Giratina and the Heavenly War
by Regina Demonica
Summary: Trapped in the spirit world through an accident, the Flower Spirit Shaymin, alongside the mysterious Giratina and a group of unexpected allies, must discover why two ancient dragon Pokemon are fighting and stop a war that threatens to destroy the universe. An AU version of Giratina and the Sky Warrior.
1. The Exile Returns

**This story is a very AU version of Giratina and the Sky Warrior, adding in some familiar faces from earlier movies and an alternate take on the war between Dialga and Palkia. There are many references to Japanese mythology in this story, since instead of running into Ash and co. Shaymin's journey begins by entering a mysterious and dangerous world...**

**Reviews are appreciated, so feel free to leave a comment on the story if you have one.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon.**

* * *

**Giratina and the Heavenly War**

Chapter 1: The Exile Returns

The sun blazed from behind a cloud, its light exposing a small scurrying creature as it emerged from the shelter of a thicket, smoothing its green, grass-like fur. It sniffed the air, drinking in the sunlight. Despite its humble appearance, the creature was much more than it seemed. Its, or rather his (as a spirit, he had no real gender, but considered himself masculine), name was Shaymin, and he was an extremely powerful and immortal nature spirit. Shaymin was the King of Flowers, the ruler over all vegetation, from the loveliest flower to the most encroaching weed. For four thousand years he had done his duties without complaint.

It hadn't been easy. Arceus, the mighty spirit who had brought the Pokémon world into existence in the first place, had withdrawn into the Hall of Origins, his palace in the heavens, leaving the Legendary Pokémon, both greater and lesser, to manage things on Earth. The humans hadn't made Shaymin's job any less stressful. Unlike Pokémon, who for the most part had a natural tendency towards good, humans were on both sides of the spectrum. They had a natural talent for making messes, tampering with powers greater than they, and redeeming themselves by cleaning up the mess afterwards. If the Elemental Spirits hadn't been there to keep things in check, Shaymin wondered how bad things would be.

As for himself, he had little involvement with either other Pokémon or the humans. Although an Elemental tasked with protecting plant life, he spent most of his time in his own land, the Hana Sekai, or Flower World. It was a wonderful place, completely untouched by human visitors, filled with every species of plant in the world. One species of flower, however, could not grow in the magical soil of the Hana Sekai. This flower was very important to Shaymin's abilities as the Flower King.

It was in search of this magical plant's properties that Shaymin left his own country every year to go to the Pokémon world. At the moment, he was on his way, but decided to stop for a drink at a nearby lake first. Even ancient Elemental Spirits get thirsty. The Pokemon in the vegetation watched him shuffle forward, wondering what he was. Only the older ones knew from ancient folktales of the good spirit who came to cleanse the air and destroy pollution. Those who did know stood aside as he passed out of respect.

Shaymin's walk turned into a leisurely trot as he approached the water's edge. He tried to avoid getting dust on his fur, both out of pride and for a more practical reason - he didn't want his powers to literally blow the forest away if he absorbed too much and lost control over them. He was one of the younger Elementals and was still learning how to use them properly. He had made mistakes in the past that got him in some trouble with Dialga and Palkia, the twin heads of the High Council. As Arceus's main flunkies when he was still Head of the Council, they had become increasingly arrogant, representing Arceus himself during gatherings.

Then again, considering the current state of things, it was unlikely that either of them would appear before the Council this year. In what could be considered poetic justice if it wasn't so dangerous, the two High Spirits had refused to come. Both of them had suffered a fit of madness and dramatically turned on one another, Darkrai had reported, dragging a human town into the Border and almost snuffing out countless lives. When they returned to sanity, both dragons agreed to stay in their own dimensions in case of a relapse, promising not to return to the Pokémon world.

As Shaymin bent his head to drink, he noticed movement in the pool, looking back instinctively. A purple dimensional hole had opened beside him, an enormous blue dragonlike monster wriggled out, its long neck crested by gray spines. Shaymin recognized Dialga, curling up to avoid the Temporal Spirit's burning red eyes. The other Pokémon scattered, terrified.

"He promised not to come back," Shaymin muttered in fright. "He lied to us, he broke his word."

To his relief, Dialga did not attack him or the other Pokémon, instead lumbering to the water's edge, bending over and sipping with surprising delicacy. Shaymin didn't dare move, however, seeing how bright and wild Dialga's eyes were, just as Darkrai had described them during the battle. Even if Dialga wasn't fighting, something was wrong with him. As he was much more powerful than Shaymin, however, the little king wanted to avoid a battle. He formed a ball, watching and waiting for the mighty Temporal Spirit to leave.

Suddenly, Dialga stopped drinking and backed away with a bleating roar as the peaceful lake began to seethe. A ghastly menagerie of skeletal fish rose from the depths, led by a massive, fleshless hulk of a whale. The ghastly whale gave a low moan, as if it was giving a signal, and the trees above Dialga and Shaymin were alive with purple, birdlike men armed with knives and spears. They swept down from the branches and prodded Dialga, forcing him back towards the lake. Shaymin scrunched up to block out the pained howls of the dragon.

In an instant Dialga's tail lashed out, and Shaymin found himself hurtling through the air, fortunately landing on Dialga's back. He forced his eyes open, only to get a look at another creature lurking underwater. It wasn't the skeletal whale - instead, it was an enormous gray dragon with cold red eyes and a gaping black beak. He scurried onto Dialga's head to escape the thing as the whale and its ghastly army surrounded them. Dialga, neither noticing nor caring about the little creature clinging to him for grim death, plunged into the sea to escape the bird-men.

Shaymin held his breath to avoid drowning, but to his horror found that the whale had followed them under, slamming into Dialga with its bony body and driving him to the center of the lake. Another dimensional hole opened beneath him, his tail dangling into it. An unseen force gripped him and dragged him down, struggling. Judging from the strength of the tug, the thing had to be massive. Shaymin, thoroughly terrified, looked back, and saw the shadowy dragon-creature that he had seen earlier clinging to Dialga's tail. Dialga tried to struggle free, spitting a ball of light at his captor, but the dark dragon easily dodged the blow and whispered something into his ear.

The air was purple, poisoned, filled with dark clouds of what seemed to be smoke. Shaymin knew by instinct that he would suffocate almost at once if he dared to breathe. His powers wouldn't work on this shadowy stuff. Suddenly, he was dragged out of the nightmarish place, into what had to be another world entirely. In the Pokemon world, it had been day. Here, it was night, a bright yellow moon in the star-studded sky.

"Let go of me!" screamed Dialga, thrashing in the dragon's grip. "You'll pay for this, renegade!" The dragon didn't speak, but threw Dialga, Shaymin still with him, to the ground. Another set of bird-men on the ground opened up a huge net, trapping both of them inside. Luckily for Shaymin, he was small enough to slip out through the holes, leaping to the ground. Dialga, for all of his roaring, wasn't so fortunate.

"Tengu, be careful not to harm him," ordered the gray dragon as it swooped down to examine its prisoner. Deciding not to stick around, Shaymin fled into the brush, terrified. He was badly weakened without sunlight, and needed an open fire to use Seed Flare and escape home. Seeing a woman sitting on a log, he approached her. "Do you know where I can find some fire?" She didn't move, and Shaymin grew angry. "Come on, lady! I don't belong here! I need help!" She looked up, and he saw with a sense of mounting horror that she had no face.

He screamed and ran into the brush, shivering beside a large tree, and jumped when he heard a rasping whisper.

"Back off, fuzzball. This is my turf."

"W-who goes there?" asked Shaymin, and a long orange creature dangled down from a branch, clicking its crablike pincers together menacingly.

"Or I could snip your pretty green fur right off. Take your pick."

Shaymin darted to a bush to hide, cold and terrified. He hated this world already - moist and dark and filled with monsters. If he wanted to survive and make it back to collect his flower, he had to get his bearings on this alien land, since chances were that he would be trapped here for quite some time.

He wasn't used to living by his wits, but that was what he would have to do.


	2. A Council Interrupted

**Giratina and the Heavenly War**

Chapter 2: A Council Interrupted

The Council, the gathering of legendary Pokémon which kept their world in check, had been summoned. The yearly gathering had been scheduled early due to an emergency - something had gone badly wrong. Most of the Pokémon called didn't know exactly what had happened. However, many had some suspicion, judging from what had happened earlier between Dialga and his brother Palkia, that it involved the High Spirits.

Since both of the great dragons were absent from the assembly, the head of the meeting was the Ground Elemental Groudon, who now occupied the place on the golden pedestal that had once belonged to Arceus. Once bright, it had become overgrown with ivy and covered in dust. Dialga and Palkia hadn't bothered to clean it or even to order it cleaned. Nevertheless, Groudon felt a surge of pride as he clambered onto the ancient relic. It was from a grander time, when Lord Arceus had walked among his people, before peace in the Pokémon world was shattered forever.

His zealous yellow eyes scanned the crowd, which was crammed into the vast underground chamber. It was the duty of every legendary Pokémon to be there. To be absent was blasphemy. He snarled when he saw that the Flower King, Shaymin, wasn't there.

"Shaymin! Where are you?"

"Maybe," quaked a small blue-gray Pokémon, "Shaymin has a good reason for not showing up. He has the Hana Sekai to rule over, and besides, Jirachi isn't here. You aren't yelling at her."

Groudon rolled his eyes. "Azelf, Jirachi has an excuse. She only wakes up for one week every thousand years. I have never seen Jirachi at a Council since Creation. Shaymin has no such impediment. Missing a Council is lazy in itself, but this meeting is particularly important. The world is in danger."

"How, Groudon?" asked Manaphy, seated beside the hulking white form of Regigigas, the Lord of the Regal Ones. Groudon turned to an Elemental beside him. It was solid black, a pillar of white fuzz towering over its head.

"Darkrai, explain to them why we are all here," Groudon ordered tiredly, and the figure shifted.

"Dialga and Palkia are fighting again."

The reaction from the other Council members was first disbelief, then fear. The birdlike Lugia swished his tail in anxiety. "What do we do, then? They're High Spirits. The most powerful of us are Lesser Spirits, nowhere near strong enough to fight both of them at once." The only Pokémon who wasn't afraid was the ever-smooth Cresselia, who levitated toward the pedestal.

"If that is true, Lord Groudon, we will need a wise leader to guide us."

Darkrai added, "I have heard that their battle is even fiercer than it was before in Alamos Town. That incident, you may recall, almost ended the lives of hundreds of humans - and Pokémon, too - if the human boy Ash and I hadn't managed to put a stop to it. They killed me, too, in their madness. After the humans calmed them down, Palkia restored all that had been lost in the battle, including my life."

Groudon looked up from the pedestal. "Unusually generous of him, if you ask me. Usually those two don't fix the things, living and not, that they break. You must have impressed him."

"In any case," Darkrai continued calmly, "each dragon is using his minions to search the universe for the other. Palkia's Unown army and Dialga's Pinku..."

"General K?" Ho-oh cawed with laughter, almost slipping from his perch. "Pinku, I can understand. She's shrewd. She's unscrupulous. Our own Celebi isn't nearly as devious as her. General K, on the other hand, is arrogant and stupid. Palkia shouldn't have fired General D, even if he did have the odd human kidnapped. He was competent."

Groudon roared, trying to regain control of the meeting. "Because of this danger, we must all stand united against the threat under one leader. Me."

No one moved until Cresselia coughed. "Are you sure that you're the best one for the job, Groudon? There was that trouble between you and Kyogre a while back."

"That was pointless," remarked Zapdos. "You got an innocent Pikachu involved in your war, which by any standards was a vile thing to do."

Cresselia turned to him, her voice not rising an iota. "And as for you, Zapdos, there was that (how should we put this?) _incident_ between Articuno, Moltres, and you. That little stunt almost destroyed the earth."

"That wasn't our fault!" screeched Articuno, blue wings spread wide. "That human collector, whatever his name was, captured us and tormented us."

"Don't remind me," said Moltres, hiding his head behind his wings as if remembering some old humiliation. "Cresselia, you can't talk. You could never get along with Darkrai."

"Lies," hissed Cresselia.

"Truth," Darkrai chuckled knowingly. He had seen how fierce the lunar Pokémon's temper could get.

Someone gasped, and the room fell quiet. Groudon leapt from the pedestal as a purple dimensional hole opened on top of it, revealing the poisoned blank landscape of the Border. A pale feathery creature fluttered out of the portal and stood up, startling the legendary Pokémon. It was a whitish-gray bird, but there was something unusual, almost unnatural, about it. Perhaps it was the ghostly green flames darting around its body, or the fact that it preened its feathers and calmly said, "My name is Ranpu. I am an _ao-sagi-bi_, a ghost heron. I come in friendship as an ambassador for my mistress."

Rayquaza, a sleek green dragonlike Pokémon, narrowed his eyes. "And who is your mistress, stranger? Why can't she come to speak for herself?"

"My mistress," Ranpu explained with a sweeping bow, "is Her Majesty, Queen Giratina." No one in the audience spoke or moved, not even Groudon, but almost all of them glared sullenly at the newcomer. Only Regigigas and the Regal Ones seemed remotely pleased when Giratina was named. "I am her personal scribe and dispatch to other worlds. She sent me from the spirit world to tell you that, despite tensions in the past, she wants to help you stop Dialga and Palkia's battle. Neither one must be harmed. As the incarnations of time and space themselves, any damage could case incalculable damage to the universe. She has successfully captured Dialga and is now having her warriors search for Palkia."

"So what does she want from us?" asked Groudon, badly missing the pedestal.

"In two words, your help," Ranpu said. Ho-oh threw back his head in laughter and Rayquaza snickered.

"Us? Help her? After what she did?" Heatran sneered. "Get back to your own world, pipsqueak!"

"Wait." Darkrai raised a claw. "We can't afford to be choosy about our allies. Does Giratina want to help us stop Dialga and Palkia?"

Ranpu nodded without a second's hesitation. "Yes."

Cresselia, floating beside Kyogre, narrowed her eyes. "If your beloved Queen Giratina is truly on our side, why is she sending her pet to a Gathering instead of coming herself? Because she knows we would tear her apart?"

"I never thought I'd say this, but Darkrai has a point," Groudon sighed. "We aren't in a position where we can turn down potential help. Saving the universe is more important than our feud with Giratina."

Ranpu folded his wings. "If you do not trust that I come in good faith, you may send one of your own to come to the spirit world with me and report on whatever we do."

Regigigas got to his feet, Azelf, Uxie, and Mesprit scattering as he did so. "I'll go," he rumbled, and Groudon agreed.

"On the condition that you report back to us, you have my permission to enter the Renegade's world."

The strange bird sprang into the hole, Regigigas stepping onto the golden pedestal and following him in. A few moments later, it closed, as if it had never existed.

"All right," rumbled Groudon, facing the other legendary Pokémon. "This Council is officially adjourned. Are there any questions?"


	3. The Renegade's Summons

**Giratina and the Heavenly War**

Chapter 3: The Renegade's Summons

Shaymin anxiously looked behind him as he picked his way through the bizarre world that he was trapped in. This was a disaster on several levels. Firstly, his life was in danger here. The creatures that he had met so far had been creepy at best and at worst murderous. His powers were weakened at night, and day never seemed to come there. While he was not a true plant, his abilities were photosynthetic, making this place the worst possible world for him to be stranded in. Worst of all, he had no way of making it back unless he found an open fire. Smoke would activate his Seed Flare technique, opening a dimensional hole and allowing him to escape to the Pokémon world. The problem was, he hadn't found any fire, and he had been walking for what felt like hours.

Secondly, there was no way that he would reach the sacred flower garden in Sinnoh in time and find the flower that he needed. They would bloom in a matter of days. This was a mess. Shaymin kicked a pebble in frustration. Why did Dialga and the gray dragon which had kidnapped him have to drag Shaymin into it, too? He didn't care about the High Spirits, apart from the fact that their war endangered the Hana Sekai as well.

The High Spirits could be so selfish. He hoped that one day Arceus would return to the Pokémon world and knock them into line. Come to think of it, the gray dragon might have had a similar plan. What better way to stop a fight than to separate the participants? If so, the eerie-looking creature might have been on the good side, or at least was trying to protect life in the universe. Shaymin shivered. Everything in this world was strange. Good or not, he wanted to avoid the creature.

He heard a shuffling of claws and froze. He was in no condition for a battle, but he had a little energy left to fight if he had no choice. As he displayed his grass quills and tried to look as frightening as possible, a creature much smaller than the others emerged from the shadows. It looked something like a lizard, its body scaly, green, and long. However, something about it immediately frightened Shaymin.

The lizard didn't have a lizard's head, but had a head made of bronze, shaped like a gong and arranged like a pair of jaws, complete with viciously hooked metal teeth and a lolling tongue. Shaymin backed away from it, ready for battle. He was surprised when the gong-animal, instead of lunging at him, bowed politely.

"Hello," it hissed, its thin voice a whisper. "I take it you are a stranger to this world."

"I am," snapped Shaymin, "and I've got to make it back home. I'm Shaymin, king of the Hana Sekai, and I was trapped in this place because of an accident. At least I think it was an accident. If you can help me get back, that would be very kind. No one else in this weird place has been any use."

The gong-animal nodded, but added, "That, Shaymin, is because you are new here. Most of this world's people are pranksters at worst. The spirit world is not an evil place. Different, but not any more evil than the others. I apologize if any of my fellow spirits and demons frightened you. I assure you that we are not all like that."

"But can you help me?" Shaymin asked, trying to calm down. This creature, although still creepy, was at least friendly and hadn't threatened him yet. "I have something important to do in my home world, a ritual, and I've never missed it before. If there's someone you can take me to who can help me find my way back, I want to see him. Or her."

As he sat up, the gong-animal scurried away, gesturing for him to follow. "Very well. The ruler of this world is named Giratina, the Queen of the Demons. She's been here for thousands of years, ruling us from her palace and bringing peace to the land. Once many of the demons who lived here were violent and cruel, harassing creatures in the other worlds either out of spite or petty cruelty. When Queen Giratina came, she defeated the evil spirits, teaching us how to live in harmony with one another. Although her appearance is frightening, she's kind and gentle."

Shaymin didn't move. "How do we call her?" The queen's name sounded familiar, but it wasn't one he had heard for a very long time.

"She can communicate using reflections. Mirrors work best, but there's a lake close by that should do. Come with me!"

Reluctantly the Flower King followed the gong-animal's waddling footsteps through the brush, looking out for danger everywhere he turned. He wasn't as sure as his guide that this place wasn't dangerous. He felt almost crushed by the night sky, which drained his energy and his powers. In this state, he was at his most vulnerable. If anything wanted to attack or eat him, it wouldn't be a hard job.

At last they stopped beside a small lake, which instantly made Shaymin nervous as he remembered the horrible dragon which rose out of the lake back in the Pokémon world to attack Dialga and drag him in. "Are you sure that this is a good idea?"

The gong-animal strode out to look over the water. "Of course. She comes when she is asked to. I am her deputy ambassador, after all." It lightly touched the water with a claw. As Shaymin watched in fright, the lake began to seethe just as it had around Dialga. He jumped back when he saw something moving around, distantly, a blur which grew into the great gray dragon which had pulled him into this freakish world in the first place. Broad black wings which seemed to be made out of shadows spread out from its scaly gray body, and it stood on six sturdy legs tipped with golden claws.

He wanted to run, but stood frozen as the thing erupted from the lake, covering him with spray. He shook himself dry and gazed up at the monster. It was, as he had feared, the creature which had overpowered a High Spirit. As he had done before, although he knew that it wouldn't save him this time, he curled himself up into a ball. The dragon looked down at him, its beak suspiciously curved into a smile. A few moments later, he wondered why he was still alive. If the monster had wanted to eat him, it would have by now.

He cautiously looked up only to see the eerie-looking dragon Pokémon - it was a Pokémon, one whose name he distantly remembered at that, getting a closer look at it - laughing at him. The gong-animal had vanished into the forest, its work done.

"You don't have to be afraid, Shaymin. I apologize if I frightened you, and I suppose it is only fair if I introduce myself. I am Queen Giratina."

"Hello, Your Majesty," quaked Shaymin, managing a weak bow. "It was, well, you were the one who brought me here in the first place, and I thought you wanted to hurt me. What did you do to Dialga? Is he here, too?"

Giratina sobered, shrinking her wings a little. "I apologize sincerely for taking you here, King of Flowers. I only came for Dialga, as he lost control of his reason again along with his brother, the Spatial Spirit Palkia. To solve the problem, I plan to capture both of them and keep them guarded until their tempers calm, or until I can learn what is wrong with them. If you would like, I can take you to see him. After you spend the night at my palace, you can return to the Pokémon world if you wish. However, it would be useful if I had an ally there, especially since Palkia has proven difficult to track."

"If you help me get home, I'll keep an eye out for him," Shaymin promised, finding himself beginning to trust Giratina. Despite her fierce appearance, her voice was kind. Anyway, he needed her help to get home if she was in charge of the spirit world.

"After we visit Dialga, there is someone my personal dispatch arranged for me to meet in the garden, who, he says, is going to help me solve the problem with Dialga and Palkia. An old friend of mine." Giratina's wings spread wide, and she lowered her tail, inviting Shaymin to climb up. "Get on my back. I need to show you to the guards before they'll let you in. They're loyal, but they're rather skittish about intruders, especially Guard Captain Ikazuchi." Shaymin scurried up the tail, positioning himself beside one of Giratina's golden neck spines so that he wouldn't fall. If it hadn't been night, and if he had one of those flowers with him, this indignity wouldn't be necessary. He struggled to hold on as the Demon Queen's powerful wings beat, pushing her into the air.

Giratina, for all her bulk, was a powerful flyer, soaring past clouds and crossing a dreamlike landscape of bright stars and tall trees. Shaymin found it beautiful in its own way, not like the Hana Sekai, but in the sense that the eternal night brought something to the spirit world. He felt much safer in the sky, under Giratina's protection, than he did on the ground. As his anxiety slipped away, he found himself wondering what a fellow Pokémon, a powerful one at that, was doing here. Perhaps Giratina was, as she had said, trying to stop the war between Dialga and Palkia before things got even more out of hand. He hoped she would be able to handle them. They were never nice Pokémon, although to their credit they did genuinely care about the universe they helped to create before this. Even before they went insane, Dialga and Palkia were arrogant, both towards their fellow spirits and especially towards humans, who they loathed.

Perhaps having some sense knocked into them was what they needed.

Giratina dove down, swerving her flight path to a distant building, tall and elegantly built, large enough for an enormous dragon Pokémon. She landed before the gate, giving a loud roar as a signal. Immediately two more creatures came from around the sides of the palace. Unlike the other creatures that Shaymin had met in the spirit world, they weren't just strange or fierce-looking. They were downright nightmarish.

Both were about seven feet tall, one standing upright while the other slouched, its claws touching the mud. Both had bodies coated in tough red armor, bright blue lines running across in a pattern, while their underbellies were made of dark sludge, glowing like there was lava inside. They seemed, Shaymin thought, like the Ground Elemental Groudon, although smaller and somehow _wrong_. The standing one wore a sleek green cape that swept behind it. Giratina seemed unafraid of the creatures, addressing the caped monster by name.

"Greetings, Captain Ikazuchi. Is watch going well tonight?"

It gave a sweeping bow. "Welcome back, Lady Giratina. I am pleased to say that we have nothing to report. Dialga is secured, Captain Ryouken hasn't reported back from the Pokemon world, and..." The slouching monster prodded him in the side. "What is it, Enkou? Can't you see how busy I am?" Enkou pointed a claw at Shaymin, and Ikazuchi drew a sword from a purple sash that was tied around his slimy chest. "Who are you, and what are you doing here?"

"This is Shaymin," Giratina explained. "He wants to see if he can help us tame Dialga."

"Oh." The monster suddenly looked sheepish. "Forgive me, then. I was only doing my job. My name is Ikazuchi, and I'm the Captain of the Guards here. That," he said as he pointed to his friend, "is my younger brother, Enkou. He can't talk." Enkou yawned, revealing a wide, toothless mouth which stuck together at places and glowed as if the demon had swallowed a lantern.

"What are you two?" asked Shaymin, not sure what to make of them. They didn't seem dangerous, but they certainly looked disturbing.

"We are Groudon demons," Ikazuchi explained. "We have a bit of an ugly reputation, since our species can feed on the energy from plants and drain the life force from captured creatures. However, Enkou and I don't eat living things. We're peaceful as Groudon demons go." He turned and faced the gate to the palace. "Enough talk. If you will stand aside, Lady Giratina, we will have the gatekeeper let you in."

He rapped on the door, taking a position beside it as it slowly creaked open, gaping. Shaymin hopped down from Giratina's tail and scurried gratefully inside, the Demon Queen and the two Groudon demon guards following along benind him.


	4. Palace of the Spirits

**Giratina and the Heavenly War**

Chapter 4: Palace of the Spirits

Enkou and Ikazuchi took the lead, ushering Shaymin through a hallway into a vast room, filled with still more bizarre creatures. There were a few more of the gong-animals scuttling along, trailed by two creatures, one of which looked like a one-eyed purple umbrella with a fanged mouth, standing on its tip, while the other resembled a living stirrup covered in moss-like green fur. A small orange-skinned creature with a long tongue stood beside a stubby purple spirit which looked like a wingless, featherless bird with lobster's claws. A furry, humanlike giant, with only one wide red eye, hopped up and down on one foot, stoking a forge.

"Who are they?" asked Shaymin, nervously watching the creatures.

"They are my servants and friends who work here at the palace. The one-footed spirit is Ashi the _ippon-datara_, my royal blacksmith. The stirrup-creature is an _abumi-kuchi_ named Nuno, and the little crocodile spirits are _wani-guchi_ spirits, gongs that have gained a soul through age and came to life. As for the orange spirit, he is called Hedoro. He's an _aka-name_ who is in charge of the bath-house here. His friend is Kai, a _kami-kiri_ who is the palace's barber. " Giratina nodded to Hedoro, who scuttled into the next room, his tongue dangling out of his mouth and leaving a trail of slime behind him.

Kai waved a claw in greeting. "Pleased to see you, Lady Giratina. You too, Captain Ikazuchi and Enkou." Enkou grunted, and Ikazuchi fixed his cape. "We don't have any news yet about Palkia, I'm afraid. If you want to see Dialga, the tengu secured him in the dungeons. We're just hoping that he doesn't break loose and kill us. He looked very angry."

"The enchantments I put on the nets should hold him," Giratina reassured. "Once we find Palkia, we can find out what is wrong with them."

"Yes, but none of us feel safe with that monster in the palace," replied Kai, clicking her claws together in worry.

A large chickenlike spirit with brown feathers and a red wattle strode over to them, wings spread out slightly, its black claws clicking against the floor. "Just to remind you, we wouldn't be any safer if Dialga was free. Here at least we can keep an eye on him." It gave a clucking sigh, puffing out smoke. "All the same, I'll be pleased when those two are cured and we can be rid of them."

Shaymin coughed. "Giratina, what is the giant chicken doing here?"

"I am not a giant chicken," snapped the bird. "My name is Itazura, and I am a _basan_ - a chicken demon. Hedoro told me to come here. He says that you might want some food, Shaymin, after your long journey."

"I would like that, yes," agreed Shaymin. "I need something to get my energy up."

"Very well, then. Follow me." Itazura walked down another hallway, spreading his green tail feathers. Leaving Ashi and Kai behind, Shaymin, Giratina, and the two Groudon demons followed him into the kitchen. Itazura suddenly gave a loud, crowing laugh, blowing out blue flames. "Giant chicken, indeed! Have you ever met a chicken which can breathe fire or talk?"

The King of Flowers shook his head. "Afraid not."

"Thought so," remarked Itazura, standing aside to let them enter. "I'll let the kitchen staff know about our guest."

It was a grand room, filled with spirit workers of all different kinds and broad wooden tables covered by white cloth. Shaymin saw some of the faceless women making stew while a trio of white weasels with viciously sharp claws cut up sushi. A living sandal stood close by on two spindly brown clawed legs, chanting a tune to itself. "_Kararin_, _kororin_, _kankororin_. _Kararin_, _kororin_, _kankororin._" Shaymin still wasn't sure if seeing the strange creatures working at everyday tasks was reassuring or even weirder than before. At least they were friendlier than the ones from outside.

Itazura trotted away to speak with one of the women, who hurried off. She returned with a stack of plates, three containing sushi and the fourth containing bread. Giratina led them to a table, where Shaymin jumped onto the seat and climbed onto the table while Enkou, Ikazuchi, and the Demon Queen stood up. While Giratina ate her sushi as delicately as a creature with no hands could, Ikazuchi simply pointed at his food. A mass of slimy green tentacles emerged from his hand and engulfed the sushi, leaving an empty bowl. A sac containing the food appeared in his slimy belly.

Noticing Shaymin's disgusted expression, Ikazuchi remarked, "I'm a Groudon demon. This is how I eat. Live with it."

"That doesn't mean that it's nice to look at," Shaymin retorted, forcing himself to look away from the captain and focus on his bread.

When they had finished, the faceless woman returned to take the plates. "So then, Shaymin," Giratina asked, folding up her wings, "what do you want to do next?" Before the Elemental could answer, a white-furred, winged dog burst into the kitchen, panting, soft feathers flying. Itazura gave a startled squawk.

"Queen Giratina! Queen Giratina! I have word from Captain Ryouken. He and the _hainu _captured Palkia and had him taken to the dungeons. He says you should come and have a look at them." He spread out his wings. "All I can say myself is that now I know why everyone is so terrified of them."

Giratina nodded to it. "Go, and tell Ranpu that I'll be late to see my visitor. It is important to see that Dialga and Palkia are properly secured first. Now that they're together, they'll become even more vicious than before. I hope we can keep them from escaping the palace." It raced down the passageway, wings beating, and vanished around a corner. Giratina allowed Shaymin to climb onto her back. "Looks like you'll get to see Dialga and Palkia earlier than we had planned."

"We'll be returning to our post, then. If you need us, we'll come." Ikazuchi saluted and lumbered away, Enkou following along behind. Shaymin was a little relieved to see the creepy Groudon demons leave. Even though they were friendly, everything from the way they looked to the way they ate was positively disturbing. All the same, he was grateful that they were on the good side. He believed that there were some creatures that it was better to have as allies than as enemies. Groudon demons were among those creatures. Itazura trotted away with the two monsters, muttering under his breath.

"I'm scared," Shaymin told Giratina, apprehensive about facing the crazed Temporal Spirit and his brother. "Dialga seemed different when I saw him. Something's driven him crazy. His eyes were bright red, like they were on fire."

Giratina turned to face him, head tilted slightly. "Something has gone terribly wrong. To save the worlds, we have to talk sense into those two. Otherwise the space-time continuum will be ripped apart, throwing all of the worlds, mine and yours, into chaos. The danger continues for as long as Dialga and Palkia's stupid war does."

With Shaymin perched on top of her head, Giratina followed the path of the _hainu_, travelling down a set of steps into a dimly lit stone room. It looked fairly nondescript, almost like a prison cell, only containing a stone bench and two tough rope nets dangling from hooks above them. Each net contained a huge, hulking form, faintly glowing, that seemed to be scrunched into a ball. From Giratina's head Shaymin could see the closer of the nets, which contained a quadrupedal dragonlike monster. Two blazing red eyes burned in its head, and its silver claws slashed at the rope. Its chest contained a glistening blue diamond while its back was crested by a spiny gray sail. The monster greeted Giratina with a growled oath.

"Greetings, Dialga," said the Demon Queen. "I hope you are well."

"Well?" Dialga spat. "I'm furious! How dare you keep me locked up like this, with _him_!" He pointed his tail to the second net, which trapped a bipedal dragon that was covered in dull pinkish-white fur. Two shiny pink pearls were fixed to its back, near a set of small, leathery wings, and its tiny hands twitched in enraged spasms. Its red eyes glowed as brightly as Dialga's. Shaymin raced behind a spike on Giratina's neck to avoid being seen.

Giratina reared up and roared, her wings spreading to their full breadth, although the other two spirits didn't twitch.

"Dialga! Palkia! Do you two know why you are here with me?"

The pink dragon, Palkia the Spatial Spirit, spoke for the first time. "We don't know and we don't care. All we want to do is finish our battle."

"Your battle is the reason for your imprisonment in my dungeon," Giratina told them sternly, her tail swishing from side to side in calm anger. "You will stay here until you both agree to stop fighting. Your war is destroying the universe. Even you two fools will die when time and space warp out of your control!"

Dialga hissed evilly. "We will not stop our battle until one of us is dead." He struggled, thrashing his enormous body against the net. Palkia screeched a shrill cry, slashing at his prison and spraying pink light everywhere. It was amazing that the nets, although enchanted, held.

Shaymin whispered in her ear, "You wanted to see them. What's wrong with them, other than the fact that they're both psychotic?"

Giratina watched the two High Spirits struggle in their prisons, screaming promises to grant her a violent death. "From as far as I can see, the problem is in their heads, not their bodies. I don't know much about this, but I would guess that it might be some sort of possession. In other words, something else has taken control over their minds. Unfortunately, there is no way to tell what."

Shaymin shuddered. If something was powerful enough to seize complete control over two improbably powerful dragon spirits, they had a formidable opponent to deal with. He wondered what could have the mental ability to do this to Dialga and Palkia. Even the most powerful Psychic Pokémon couldn't control targets from across a great distance like this. One thing was for certain - he wanted to stay out of its way. That gave them another task - to cure the High Spirits by defeating the being which was driving them mad. And Shaymin couldn't forget his ritual.

"Get out of our presence, Renegade," bellowed Dialga in a hollow roar, followed by Palkia, "before we tear you apart!"

Giratina turned and left at once, Shaymin still sitting on top of her head. Clearly she had seen enough, and so had he. Although he had never liked Dialga and Palkia, seeing them twisted and insane like this was saddening. He decided that helping Giratina cure their madness was more important than getting to the Flower Bearing back in Sinnoh. All the same, he wished he could transform. He would be much more useful to her that way.

Crawling to the top of the stairs, she went through the hallway and to the main chamber, where Hedoro was talking to Saki while the two Groudon demons stood close by, clearly off duty. Itazura the chicken demon approached her and bowed. "Lady Giratina, Ranpu says that your guest has arrived in the garden. If you want, Ikazuchi and Enkou say that they will come with you. I saw him myself - he's a giant, almost as tall as you. White with black markings, six stones on his face (if it's a face) and what looks like moss on his back. Like nothing I've ever seen before."

Shaymin couldn't stop himself from grinning. He knew Regigigas from the _basan_'s descripton. It would be nice to see a familiar friend in this freakish world. No doubt news of the Dialga and Palkia issue had gotten into the Pokémon world, and the other Elemental spirits would want to fix the problem, too. Besides, if Giratina had a garden, if he was lucky he might just find the flower he was looking for anyway. Although it would be useless in this world, to fix the problem they would probably end up returning to his own country.

Despite the fact that he had been first dragged into a war and then a quest, things might just work out for him after all.


	5. Lord of the Regal Ones

**Giratina and the Heavenly War**

Chapter 5: Lord of the Regal Ones

Clinging to Giratina's scaly back, Shaymin turned to see who was coming with them to meet Regigigas in the garden. Itazura, the giant fire-breathing chicken, was bringing up the rear, followed by the two Groudon demons. Enkou and Ikazuchi were now wearing what seemed to be ceremonial feathered caps, Ikazuchi still wearing his forest-green cape. It was quite sleek, contrasting with the grotesque appearance of the guard captain. Judging from the fact that the sac that held the sushi was gone, Ikazuchi had absorbed or digested his meal. Shaymin tried to keep from being sick on Giratina's back. She wouldn't like that, and Ikazuchi's point that he couldn't help what he was, he had to admit, was fair. Besides, as long as they didn't try to eat him, he could work with them.

All the same, it would be good to see Regigigas again. He knew the ancient Lord of the Regal Ones well. Regigigas was an Elemental whose task was ruling over the trio of synthetic Pokémon known as the Regal Ones - Regice, Regirock, and Registeel. Even older than Shaymin, he had acted as a friend and tutor to the first humans, teaching them how to survive and creating three lesser Elemental spirits to guide them. As such, he tended to view humans more charitably than many of the other Pokémon spirits did. He saw them more as creatures needing guidance and instructions for how to respect the spirits than vermin to be driven out or exterminated.

Shaymin was inclined to share Regigigas's views on humans. Although some of them had caused problems in the past, as many of the Elementals could testify, they could fix the problems that they made, too. Lugia, Suicune, Raikou, Celebi, and Darkrai also showed charitable feelings towards people considering what had been done to most of them. Others were distrusting, but not hateful, like the Winged Titans of the Orange Islands. Only Dialga and Palkia truly _hated_ human beings. They had satisfied themselves with deification, but detested what they viewed as polluters of their realm.

Their old friendship aside, it would be a relief to meet someone who was relatively normal-looking after the freakish creatures that he had met in the spirit world. A fellow Pokémon spirit, someone who could tell him how things were going back in the world that he had left behind. After a bit of a talk, the group would plan their next move, some staying behind to guard Dialga and Palkia while the others went to track down whoever or whatever was behind this.

Enkou gestured to the left with a claw, his brother leading Giratina, Shaymin, and Itazura forward. He had drawn his sword from his sash again, twirling it casually. It was strange how the demon could be both hideous and elegant at the same time. The hulking Enkou, although the less refined of the two, was helpful on his own account, despite his inability to speak. Ikazuchi seemed to understand his roars and gestures well enough.

Giratina followed her captain of the guards, mumbling, clearly distressed by her encounter with Dialga and Palkia. Despite her good intentions, Shaymin thought, she could have made a terrible mistake. Keeping the two High Spirits together would provoke them into a frenzy. They would stop at nothing to continue their battle, and wouldn't hesitate to rip a world apart in the process. He remembered Kai the _kami-kiri'_s fear that the pair would escape from their prison and destroy the spirit world. It wasn't an unjustified fear. He knew that even one of the two was extraordinarily powerful. Combined and in a maddened state, they would be close to unstoppable.

Judging from the concerned look in her eyes, this possibility wasn't lost on Giratina. She had used her most powerful binding spells on the nets trapping the two monsters, but whether their magic would be stronger than the High Spirits' attacks was still to be seen. Dialga and Palkia had powerful magic of their own, far stronger than anything Shaymin could come up with. While he could only purify poisoned air, they could create or bring to ruin a universe.

He shuddered again. He could use telepathy himself to communicate with humans, but he couldn't control other creatures through it, let alone creatures as strong as Dialga and Palkia. Whatever was doing this to them had to have very strong psychic powers, greater than any Pokémon's. Leaving such a being running rampant through the universe couldn't be allowed. It had to be stopped, and the forces were rallying to do so. Regigigas was a sign that the Council in the Pokémon world was worried, too.

Ikazuchi, the blue patterns on his body glowing in the dark, led the group down a bare passageway. The Groudon demon gestured around them. "This is the palace garden," he explained, Enkou at his side. "We use our magic to keep the plants growing, since we have no sunlight here. Some kinds grow here that are found nowhere else in the universe."

Shaymin was barely listening to the guard's speech. Leaping from Giratina's tail, he crawled along the ground, sniffing. One of the flowers he was looking for had to be around here somewhere. If he found it, he could afford to be a little late for the Flower Bearing ritual. The humans would miss him, but this business with the war between Dialga and Palkia was infinitely more important. There would be no flower garden to visit if the universe was destroyed. Scurrying past strange dark flowers and familiar species from the Hana Sekai, he finally found what he was looking for in a corner of the garden, giving a sharp cry of delight.

"Giratina! Where did you get these? Do you know what these flowers are?"

The Demon Queen lumbered over, her three demon servants following. "One of my tengu collected them in the Pokémon world. Why do you ask?"

The little nature spirit seemed ready to burst with excitement and happiness, pointing to one of the plants. It had a pretty-looking flower, reddish-pink with six petals, bearing a strange resemblance to the flowers on each side of Shaymin's face. "This is a _Flora gracidea_, or a Gracidea flower. They only grow in a certain flower garden in Sinnoh, and are the only plant that my powers cannot force to grow. With one of these flowers I will be much more help to you."

"How?" asked Itazura, bending down to look at the Gracidea flower. "I mean, it's just a flower."

"These flowers," Shaymin explained, "will allow me to change into my Sky Forme. Here in the spirit world, I can't change, since the darkness weakens me and takes away many of my abilities as the King of Flowers. My Sky Forme can fly and is far superior in battle to the form you see right now, my Land Forme. That's why I travel to the Pokémon world. Every year I must collect one of these flowers to help me transform when I have to."

Giratina thought for a moment before waving a claw, granting Shaymin permission to take one. He gratefully obliged, biting off one of the flowers and carrying it in his mouth. "Thank you, Giratina," he said, his voice slightly muffled, before strutting up her tail and back to his place on her head. That was one task accomplished.

Itazura's gaping mouth yawned open. "All right, then. Can we get going now? Ranpu says that it's important. Our guest is here to deal with the Dialga and Palkia issue. We need all the help we can get." Slightly irritated, he strode off, Enkou following with a bored shrug and gesturing for the others to come with them. Shaymin, clamping the flower tight, gazed out over the garden from his perch, admiring its beauty. Giratina certainly had good taste when it came to plants. He always had a certain admiration for gardeners and plant-keepers, mortal or not, probably because he was something of one himself.

They made their way to a stone path, leading through the garden to a circular area at its center, encircled by lush bushes. Stone benches were arranged in a pattern around it, and at the center sat a creature so still that, had Shaymin not known who it was, it could have been mistaken for a lifeless statue. It was none other than Regigigas, the balancing spirit and the Lord of the Regal Ones.

He was, as Itazura had described, close to Giratina's size in height but stood upright, while she walked on her six legs. His skin was pale, two golden rings around his powerful three-fingered hands. He had six gemstones on his body, each pair a different color: red, blue, and gray, representing each Regal One under his command. His feet and two ridges on his back were green and fuzzy, much like moss. Black markings were on his arms and legs, and seven blinking dot-like true eyes were on his head, if it could be called that.

Shaymin bowed before the enormous creature, Giratina and the three demons following suit. He heard a rumbling sound, a gentle laugh from Regigigas, as the living statue moved.

"I apologize that we took so long," explained Giratina. "Palkia has been captured. My servants locked him in the dungeon with Dialga so that we can discuss what is wrong with them." She lowered her head, revealing Shaymin. "This is my friend, the Flower King Shaymin, who was taken here by mistake after I captured Dialga. He agreed to help me cure their madness and save the world."

"Groudon was looking for you," Regigigas told the little spirit. "He was very angry when you didn't appear for the emergency Council, but by the looks of it you've gotten involved on your own. That might calm him down. He is the leader of the Legendary Pokémon this year, and he has not been placed in an easy situation. It is partly his job to save the world, too, and no one in his group is able to battle Dialga and Palkia on even terms alone."

"Hello, Lady Giratina! I see that you've made a few new friends here, eh?" A night heron, feathers glowing green in the dark, revealed itself from its perch atop the giant's shoulder. "Are Dialga and Palkia secured in the palace? I can only hope that it isn't a mistake keeping those two beasts in one place. They've turned positively savage."

Giratina nodded grimly. "I've seen, Ranpu. There's no reasoning with them. All that they care about is battle; they don't even care if one of them dies. I'm afraid that there's no helping them in their current state. Our best chance is to find out what's doing this to them. Tell Groudon I'll do whatever I can to track it down. Whatever it is, it's extremely powerful and not something to tangle with lightly."

Before Ranpu or any of the others could reply, there was an explosion from the direction of the palace, and Giratina's head whipped round. Her spirit servants, including Hedoro, Ashi, and Kai, were fleeing the building and spilling into the garden, terrified.

"Help! Help!" screamed a black catlike _neko-mata_, its yellow eyes wide with fright as its two tails twitched.

"Save us, Queen Giratina! They've gotten loose!" a sticky green _kappa_ begged, dancing back and forth on its green feet, the pool of water on its head perilously close to tipping over. A _waniguchi_-monster stood beside it on its hind legs, wringing its claws together.

"Who's gotten loose?" asked Shaymin, although he knew the answer, judging from how quickly he crawled down to the ground from the Demon Queen's head. Dialga burst out of the collapsing building, Palkia nipping at his tail. As the two faced one another in the night sky, eyes glowing blood-red, Regigigas stood in front of the demons and Shaymin to protect them while Giratina spread out her wings to confront the pair.

"Stay behind me," the giant commanded. "This isn't something for Elementals to join." Cowering, Shaymin watched in awestruck horror as the two High Spirits flew at one another in the air and charged.


	6. Clash in the Sky

**Giratina and the Heavenly War**

Chapter 6: Clash in the Sky

Dialga and Palkia dove straight for one another, colliding midair. A wave of energy demolished the remains of Giratina's palace, fortunately empty of servants and guards. Seeing the destruction, Giratina gave a low growl from the back of her throat, her wings expanding to their fullest breadth. Ikazuchi realized what she planned to do first.

"Your Highness, you must stay calm! Fighting them may only make things worse, and they're bad enough as they are," the Groudon demon begged, Enkou waving frantically. However, Giratina was determined to protect her world and her people, even if it meant confronting the two mighty High Spirits in battle. Shaymin worried that the Demon Queen would be vastly outmatched. She had defeated Dialga before, but with the element of surprise and an army of her spirit warriors on her side, and now the enraged Temporal Spirit was with his equally powerful brother. As only an Elemental, he could do nothing to help her. Even one of the High Spirits could destroy him simply by accident.

With a screeching roar that made Shaymin lie against the ground to block out the sound, Giratina beat her massive black wings, swooping off in a single easy flap to duel Dialga and Palkia. They didn't notice her at first. They were far too busy tearing into one another. The blue diamond on Dialga's chest glowed eerily as the gray fin on his back shifted in size. A ball of pulsating violet energy formed between his jaws. Before Palkia could return fire or dodge his counterpart's attack, the resulting beam smashed into his chest, sending him plummeting to the trees down below. Dialga's red eyes shone even more brightly.

The Spatial Spirit wasn't so easily defeated, however. Palkia nimbly leapt to his clawed feet and sprang into the air, shaking off the blow. He roared, an eerie, echoing sound that contained all the emptiness of the element that he ruled, turning Dialga's head. The pearls on his shoulders began to glow pink, one of his hands turning the same color. With a slash, a wave of pink energy struck Dialga and knocked him out of the sky. He caught himself in the air, spitting a fiery stream at Palkia.

Giratina's body blurred and vanished as she approached the two, the middle of her helmetlike head glowing just before she dissolved into darkness. As Dialga prepared to shoot a blue beam at Palkia, she sprang from the space between the two dragons and deflected the attack with her tail. Beneath them, the demons and spirits cheered to see their queen enter the fray. Kai snapped her claws in delight while Enkou gave a pleased roar. Itazura gave a crow of joy.

Dialga and Palkia hung in the air for a moment, processing the newcomer. "How dare you interfere!" roared Palkia at last, unleashing another wave of energy, which Giratina narrowly dodged by teleporting. With a sigh of resignation, she spat a blue sphere of light at him. He formed a rose-colored shield to protect himself, and the attack disintegrated into the air.

"Those two are much too powerful," Regigigas growled. "Mind yourself, Giratina!" Shaymin was surprised that Giratina had managed to survive fighting Dialga and Palkia for as long as she had. Her defensive abilities helped, but all the same, if he was in her position he would have been torn apart.

Giratina flew above the fighting dragons, swooping some distance away to gather the necessary speed and power for what she planned to do. As if believing that he had driven their rival off, Dialga dove for Palkia, clasping his brother in a deadly embrace. Giratina plunged, her body a gray and black bullet, slamming into the two dragons with incredible force and knocking them apart. Dialga hissed in rage, stamping on her head with a foot.

"Stop fighting, you two!" she told them, although in visible pain. "Don't you see that you're destroying this world? My palace is ruined and my people are homeless. Can't you understand the havoc you're causing? I don't want to fight you, but I will if there's no other way to stop you." There was no reasoning with the two crazed dragon spirits. Palkia grabbed one of Giratina's wings, trying to twist it off. She darted into the shadows again, shooting a blast of flames which Palkia was too surprised to deflect.

He was only stunned for a moment, hissing, "Don't get in our way, Renegade. This is our business, not yours. If you do not leave at once, we will destroy you."

"You will not destroy anything else," Giratina told them, hovering in the air. "I will defend this world and everything in it with my life. Now, this is your last chance. End this pointless, destructive battle and leave the spirit world in peace!"

"We do not take orders from you, Renegade," snarled Dialga, charging up another beam. "Get out of our way or you will be destroyed."

Giratina didn't answer, only dodging the blast. The High Spirits were too far gone to listen to sense. She hated pointless fighting, but she would have to knock sense into them if there was no other way. Palkia lunged at Dialga, slashing and ripping at him. Giratina shot another blue blast at them to separate the two. Far from being grateful, Dialga went straight for her to rip her to shreds. Palkia, hands twitching, bit her tail while his brother rammed her in the stomach. She managed to struggle free of them, firing another blast at Dialga to defend herself. He ignored her, focusing his attention on Palkia.

Despite her persistence and bravery, Giratina was tiring, worn down by the repeated attacks. More and more of the High Spirits' blows were landing on their target, and she wasn't able to dodge as quickly as she could at the start of the battle. She was struggling not to give in, trying to stop Dialga from fighting by grabbing his tail in her beak as she had before. However, he would have none of it.

This time, he easily slipped out of her grasp and knocked her to the ground with a blast of violet light. On her way to the forest floor, weakened, she spread her wings out with the last of her strength and took off with another roar. Enkou, Ikazuchi, and Itazura cheered as she swept above them to return to the fight. Shaymin held onto his Gracidea flower as if to protect it. Dialga bowled Palkia over and snapped at his wings, Palkia biting his foot and slashing at his tail. When they saw Giratina, the Spatial Spirit snarled, "My, Renegade. You don't know when to give up, do you?"

"I told you, Palkia, I never give up when the safety of my world and my people are at stake. I implore you, end this now. See reason. I know that you aren't doing this by your own choice. Something has turned you and your brother into bloodthirsty monsters. Whatever is forcing you into this, fight back against it!"

Palkia stood up, motionless, and for a moment Shaymin hoped that Giratina had managed to get through to him. Then Dialga gave a bellowing roar and headbutted his brother, Palkia losing any grip over his sanity that he had managed to gain. Snarling like a rabid animal, he released another pink blast at Dialga, the blow shaking the forest. Regigigas and the others watched as Dialga struggled to his feet, roared, and darted behind Palkia, releasing a silver beam. Palkia nimbly dodged, returning fire with a pink blast of his own. The two attacks met in the air, causing an explosion which obliterated many of the trees. Not winded in the least, Dialga let loose another attack.

"Not the garden!" cried Shaymin, irritated by his own helplessness. If he was in Sky Forme, he would have leapt to join Giratina in battle against Dialga and Palkia. In his Land Forme, however, he was no match for the two enormous creatures. His screams did no good, as the Temporal Spirit's blast plunged into the garden, destroying most of the plants there, including the Gracidea patch. "I can't believe it. Those two have no respect for life at all."

"No respect for life!" huffed Regigigas, aghast by the devastation. "They don't even care about what they are doing to one another, let alone Giratina! They're too far gone. Their mental state is even worse than it was at Alamos Town - at least there they could be forced to stop! This is just purposeless destruction. Groudon was right. This madness has to be stopped."

Giratina was clearly at the last of her strength, breathing heavily and flapping her wings in an effort to stay in the air. Whatever was controlling Dialga and Palkia had clearly enhanced their energy and vitality. Despite everything, Giratina was badly outmatched by the two. She couldn't survive many more direct attacks. Realizing this, the two High Spirits dove down to finish her off. Dialga clung to one of her wings while Palkia pointed his hand at her red-striped throat. His eyes bored into hers, blazing red. She struggled, but was caught in their grip. Palkia's hand began to glow faintly. Giratina shut her eyes. Both she and the onlookers knew that if the attack made contact, the Demon Queen would be killed instantly.

"No!" cried Itazura in anguish, the Groudon demon guards instinctively clinging to their swords even as they knew they could do nothing to save their queen. The spirits gazed on in horror. Shaymin stared at his flower, wishing that he could do something to save his friend. Even Regigigas, the most powerful of the Pokémon spirits who were there, was helpless to do anything but watch.

Just as he was about to unleash the final blow, Palkia's blazing eyes dulled and he fell to the ground lifeless. Dialga shook his head and moaned, the light leaving his eyes as well as he released Giratina from his grip. "Renegade, where am I? What am I doing here?"

_That wasn't anything we did. Whatever was controlling them must have let them go on its own. Maybe it didn't want them to kill Giratina for some reason. _Shaymin couldn't believe what he was seeing. Dialga was back. Proud, arrogant Dialga, not heartless, murderous Dialga. After what he had seen, the first Dialga was by far preferable. Palkia stood up and faced the sky, spreading out his wings. His eyes still glowed, but only faintly. A bright pink light surrounded him.

"Palkia! Where are you going?" asked Shaymin as the Spatial Spirit took off. Palkia didn't look back as he answered the King of Flowers.

"Away from here."

He slashed open a dimensional hole just above the ground, disappearing inside and leaving it open behind him.

"Tell me, Renegade, what happened? My body is aching." Dialga landed, watching the strange creatures who surrounded him.

"You went insane and tried to murder your own brother and Lady Giratina!" Shaymin told him. "Look around you! All these people are without a home now."

Giratina faced her people and guests, folding her wings back as she glided down to the ground. "When I have dealt with the force or being that took over the minds of Dialga and Palkia, I will make sure that the palace is rebuilt and that you will have a new home. For now I have to find out where Palkia is going, as he could be in danger if the force that drove him mad regains control."

"I'll accompany you, Renegade," Dialga told her. "Whatever my feelings are toward you, Palkia is my brother. Rescuing him is my responsibillity, too. And I shall punish whoever dared to turn me into a mindless slave!"

"We'll come, too." Ikazuchi led Enkou and Itazura to stand with Regigigas and Shaymin beside the Demon Queen. "Seeing as my brother and I don't have a palace to guard any more." Itazura joined Shaymin on Giratina's back, waving a wing in farewell to his friends in the spirit world. The mighty dragon Pokémon led the way into the dimensional hole, disappearing inside it in an instant.

* * *

Weary from his many battle wounds, Palkia limped through the Border between the worlds, emerging into a vaguely familiar landscape of trees and rivers. This place would do, he thought. He needed a place to recover from his injuries and avoid the force probing at the edges of his mind. He was badly weakened from his fight with Dialga and Giratina and wanted nothing more than to rest. Seeing a lake, he came in to land, the native Pokémon scurrying away from him as he stood beside the water's edge.

All but one. A large gray Magnezone levitated some distance away, approaching the giant Pokémon spirit fearlessly. Its magnets rotated and flashed in excitement as it spoke to Palkia, its voice a metallic whir.

"Greetings, Lord Palkia. You look tired. Would you like me to show you where you can find a place to stay?"

Palkia, his mind still foggy, nodded weakly. It was good to meet a friendly Pokémon again after the battle he just vaguely remembered.

"Well, then, follow me. It's some distance through the trees." The Magnezone floated off, Palkia following it. It led him through a mass of trees that he had to struggle through. "Come on, Lord Palkia, it's only a short distance away. I know how exhausted you must be. Let me help you. I'll give you peace and quiet."

At last Palkia entered a large open clearing, open to the sky and bare of vegetation. His guide was gone, vanished into the forest without a trace. "Magnezone! Where are you?"

Suddenly about fifty Magnemite rushed into the clearing, led by a fierce-looking Magneton. Before Palkia could protect himself, the Magneton ordered its troops to open fire, and the mighty Spatial Spirit buckled. Under normal circumstances he could have easily overpowered this gang of impudents, but he was beaten and sick, much of his energy already drained from his experience in the spirit world. Desperate, his body aching from both old wounds and fresh ones, he tried to open a dimensional hole to get away, but to his shock his claws only met air.

"If there are enough of us," the Magneton hissed nastily, "our combined magnetism has the added effect of neutralizing your abilities so that you can't hide. Now you are in our power!"


	7. The Valley's Guardian

**Giratina and the Heavenly War**

Chapter 7: The Valley's Guardian

Giratina swooped out of the dimensional hole, landing a short distance away. In turn, Regigigas, Enkou, Ikazuchi, and Itazura emerged. Dialga came out last, shutting the hole behind him as he stood beside Giratina.

"So, then, Renegade. Where are we?"

"This is somewhere in the Pokémon world. I don't know the exact location."

Shaymin sat up from his perch on her head, observing the landscape. It was a forest, although something was wrong with it - several of the older trees were dead and the ground was barren and withered. He had never been here before, and should have been happy to see vegetation, but something about the place made him nervous. There were no wild Pokémon to be seen, and his senses could detect that this place wasn't as lush as it used to be. He shook his quills. Why had Palkia chosen to come here? There wasn't anything much here, as far as he could see, certainly nothing that would attract a High Spirit. Nevertheless, the Spatial Spirit had chosen to emerge into this strangely ragged plain.

Dialga reared up on his hind legs, slicing a hole in space as Giratina and the demons watched. In an instant, something fell out from the Border with a startled squeak. It was a tiny black Pokémon with one wide white eye, its body vaguely shaped like a letter K. It was thin, almost like paper. The creature levitated from where it had fallen, facing Dialga. Shaymin recognized it as one of Palkia's many Unown servants.

"What? What is it? Don't hurt me!" it cried out, its voice a thin crackle.

"I will not hurt you, General K," Dialga rumbled, "but I do want to ask you a question about your master, Palkia the Spatial Spirit."

General K's electromagnetic voice radiated pride. "Yes, Lord Palkia. He is the reason why I am the leader of his Unown armies. My predecessor was General D, who was too ambitious for his own good. Under his leadership, he and a pack of rogues started overstepping their boundaries. They began to kidnap humans, tamper with the dimensions, and generally make everyone miserable. He seemed to think that it was fun. Eventually he went too far and abducted a young girl's father, using her desires to attempt a takeover of this world. After he was forced to return the poor man to his own world, Palkia exiled him to the Border in disgrace."

Dialga's eyes narrowed. "We know that, General. What we are interested in is where Palkia is now. He fled the spirit world and we want to find him in case he loses control over himself again."

"Ah." K's message turned nervous. "Me and my people were just looking for him in our world. Usually our powers allow us to communicate with him, but today we lost contact. I suppose my mission to track you down is called off, Dialga?"

"Yes. With Palkia gone, I will give you new instructions in his absence. Can you tell us where we are?"

General K looked around, anxiety still emanating from him. "I would guess somewhere in the Hoenn region. That's as much as I can say, though. I'm worried about Lord Palkia. We've never lost our ability to find him before. These are strange times, Dialga."

"Hoenn," Shaymin mused. "That's closer than before, although still too far away for me to carry out the ritual in time. At least I still have my flower. With it, I can afford to miss the Flower Bearing."

"Your new assignment," Dialga told the Unown general, "is to track down Palkia. Use all of your troops in your world to do it. This is the fault of both of us. Watch us from your own dimension and alert us if you see anything interesting."

"Yes, Master Dialga, sir." General K disappeared back into the hole with a squeal, shutting it behind him.

Giratina sighed, spreading out her wings and beating them. "That is very strange. Palkia has a strong connection with his Unown, and it bodes ill for us if his powers were somehow disabled."

"So what happened, then?" Shaymin asked nervously. "What could cut them off like that? Whatever drove them crazy before?"

"I don't know," said the Demon Queen, "but we're going to find him. Something's wrong."

"Perhaps Shaymin's right and it is the same force that drove the High Spirits insane. If so, this could be our chance to end this insanity."

"Your Highness?" Ikazuchi approached Giratina, Enkou with him. "Do we want to find whatever is tampering with him? I mean, it's obviously extremely powerful, and..."

"Whatever it is," reminded Itazura, "it's interested in the High Spirits. That isn't to be allowed. They're too powerful to be interfered with."

"We don't want to end up mindless drones ourselves," Ikazuchi said, his brother nodding. "All the same, we pledged our service to Lady Giratina as guards, and guards we remain." He looked around, observing the forest. "My, this place looks like it's been through a mess. I wonder what caused all of those trees to die?"

"There's no sign of any pollution," Shaymin added, sniffing the air. "There doesn't seem to be anything wrong. And yet something killed all of these trees. The forest is recovering, but all the same - what happened? Nothing natural could have done this. There are no volcanoes or any scent of smoke."

Itazura leapt onto Giratina's back. "If we keep moving, we might find out. Maybe there are some wild Pokémon around here who could fill us in on the situation and tell us where in Hoenn we are." Giratina agreed with a grunt and set off, her allies following. Dialga walked at the very back, clearly worried about his brother despite his standoffish attitude.

After some time they emerged into a vast open valley, filled with bushes, some lush and some shriveled like the trees they had seen in the forest. Giratina and Shaymin couldn't see any wild Pokemon. Surely they had to be around here somewhere? Stones stood up from the ground like pillars, crowned by trees and hedges, also blighted but seemingly recovering. Seeing this only heightened Shaymin's sense that something had happened here that damaged nature. Ikazuchi stooped to examine one of the dead trees as something above him watched with narrowed red eyes.

"Do you see anything, Ikazuchi?" asked Regigigas. Before the Groudon demon could answer, there was an angry cry and a sound of flapping wings.

A green dragonlike Pokemon with red eyes and three diamond-shaped spines on its tail swept down from above, wings unfolded and claws ready to slash, and fired a yellow beam at Ikazuchi. He roared, "What was that for? I didn't do anything!" Shaymin recognized their attacker as a Flygon, a rare Dragon-type Pokémon usually found in deserts.

"Get out of our valley, demon!" hissed the Pokémon, wheeling for another attack. Shaymin curled up in fear as it dove again, this time going for Enkou. The younger Groudon demon instinctively swatted at the dragon, but it darted back, another beam forming in its mouth. Itazura spat blue flames to drive it off, but it continued undeterred.

With a roar, Giratina drew the creature's attention. "Stop! Captain Ikazuchi and Enkou are friends of the forest. They only want to know what went wrong here. They did no harm to you."

"Oh." The Pokémon came in to land, perching beside Giratina and bowing in apology. "I am sorry for jumping to conclusions. My name is Ryuu, and I am the guardian of the valley of Forina, where you are now."

"Forina?" asked Shaymin, uncurling himself and facing the Flygon.

"Yes. It is a great valley inhabited by the Pokemon who are under my protection. A peaceful place to live, and filled with vegetation. Well, it was until relatively recently."

"We noticed that." Shaymin gestured to the land surrounding them. "I sense that something bad happened here, something that drained the land. Look around, everyone, see the dead plants."

"Forina," breathed Giratina, retracting her wings. "I have only heard rumors of the event which ravaged this land. A demon spirit was loose here."

Ryuu looked puzzled. "Demons? I don't know anything about demons, but since I've decided to trust you I'll take you deeper into the valley to meet my friends. We'll tell you our side of what happened here to blight the land. I must warn you, it isn't a light story." The Flygon led the group down into the valley, near one of the stone pillars. He lifted his head and gave a roar. Almost instantly, Pokémon of all different breeds emerged from the vegetation: several Tropius, flocks of Swablu and Altaria, Nuzleaf, Electrike, Breloom, Poochyena, Linoone, and a single proud, white-furred Absol. The Absol strode to the group's head.

"I am glad to see that you are well, Ryuu." It paused, noticing the Groudon demons and readying to strike. "What are they doing here?"

Ikazuchi remarked, "Apparently we aren't too popular around here." Enkou shrugged in agreement.

"Friends of the forest, Gohan," repeated Ryuu, and the Absol relaxed. "They say they want to know about the monster."

No one spoke. "Do we really have to talk about that thing?" whined a Poochyena, pawing at the dirt. Several other Pokemon expressed disapproval.

"Houkou, I know that this is painful for you, but they have to know what caused the plants to die," instructed Ryuu, inviting Giratina and the others forward. "Gather round. Good. Now, a local legend around Forina is that of the Elemental Star Spirit, Jirachi, who is able to grant any and all wishes, within limitations, for seven days every thousand years. To protect her, we Pokémon were naturally drawn to this area, where it sleeps. Usually she wakes up and, under our protection, befriends a certain human. Only those with clean spirits can access the Wishmaker's full power, and the Chosen human is given a week to fulfill his or her desires before we take Jirachi back to the valley for another thousand years' rest. The latest time, however, something went badly wrong.

"Jirachi was found before the ritual, by a human who was not Chosen. This human was not satisfied with being the host to an ancient and powerful Elemental spirit, and attempted to tap into her power anyway, using more aggressive means. The true Chosen child was a boy named Max, who, along with his friends, attempted to complete the ritual with our help. However, they were interrupted by the false Chosen, who intended to use the Wishmaker's power to do something so ambitious and so incredibly stupid that no good could have come of it. He attempted to create his own Groudon, a powerful Pokémon spirit, out of thin air. Once again, things didn't go according to plan."

"If Jirachi could grant desires, why did he need to attack the Wishmaker?" asked Itazura. "Couldn't he have just asked for a Groudon?"

"Hubris," Ryuu stated simply. "Hubris and a lack of respect for the spirits. Even if he had asked properly, I'm afraid things would have turned out the same way. There are some wishes that are beyond Jirachi's power to grant. There is only one Groudon, and the existence of another would cause a universe-destroying paradox. And so something... _else_ was born. Our very instincts told us that it was an evil thing even as it rose from the earth, a massive hulking beast covered in armor and red sludge with an underbelly lit from inside, not unlike your two friends there." Enkou and Ikazuchi seemed to be quite embarrassed.

"I tried to attack it," hissed Gohan the Absol, "but it barely noticed me. Its claws melted into a mass of green tendrils that swarmed me and dragged me struggling into its body. But it was still hungry, even as it drained the life from the trees and the flowers."

"That's right," grunted a Tropius. "It was us next. Tendrils from its back infested the valley, gobbling up everything alive in their way. Humans, Pokémon, it didn't care what it ate. In fact, the creature's hunger was such that it attempted to devour its own creator."

"However," Ryuu continued, "it failed. His assistant leapt in its path, sacrificing herself to the beast in his place. That did it. He formed an alliance with the true Chosen to battle the creature and destroy it. Even humans know true evil when they see it. Together the humans tried to fight the monster, along with the few free Pokémon who remained - Jirachi, a Pikachu, myself, and the false Chosen's Salamence, Hinote. Hinote and I helped as best we could, but even we couldn't hold off the beast for long and it swallowed us, too. However, we were able to view the battle from within the creature, as it wasn't able to kill us. After all this time, I believe that I have figured out why. It wasn't alive."

"Wasn't it?" asked Houkou the Poochyena. "It moved and ate, didn't it?"

"It wasn't alive in our sense of the word. It had no brain or guts, only sludge. Its digestive system, bless the First Egg, was nonexistent. Yet there was some sort of intelligence directing its actions, something wild, uncontrollable, and more likely than not insane. It fed on us because it needed to sap the lives of other creatures to give its own body form, from what kind it did not care. As we all remember, collected Pokémon and humans were stored in a sort of larder in its belly, where their life force was slowly drained at its leisure. Besides trapping and feeding on us, it could suck the energy out of plants directly. That's why our valley is weak - it literally sucked the life out of the land."

"If it ate you, how did you get away?" inquired Ikazuchi, still feeling very uncomfortable.

"We didn't," Gohan snarled. "The sacs in its body appeared easy to break from outside but were strong as steel. Once you were inside, there was no getting out again. The Wishmaker, Jirachi, saved us - her and the false Chosen, of all people. He, Max, and another boy (I remember him faintly; he had a Pikachu with him if I remember correctly) fought their way to the place where the creature had been born and used the machine that had created it to return it to the earth. Realizing the danger it was in, the creature attempted to devour the Spirit of the Stars. However, its attack was intercepted. The false Chosen sprang between the tendrils and their prey and was eaten alive in Jirachi's place. When the Groudon-thing realized that it had absorbed the wrong creature, it was too late. Its body was already starting to melt away."

Ryuu took over the story. "It purposely stood still, trying to catch the remaining fighters in its sludge and end the tremendous pain that it was in. However, in the struggle Jirachi's true power was activated. She unleashed her Doom Desire attack on the beast, blasting it into the sky where it exploded. She used her magic to teleport everything it had swallowed, human and Pokémon, to the ground. Traumatized, yes, weakened, yes, but alive. The ritual was completed and the Wishmaker returned to her sleep. We Pokémon remained in the valley to help it heal, and we have a little help. Jirachi's energy strengthens the soil, and both the false Chosen and his wife remain in Forina, helping us restore the area to its former glory. As the guardian of the forest, I decided that his repentance was genuine, and so we agreed to let him stay. Hinote remains a good friend of mine. Not bad for a Pokémon who tried to kill me when we first met. The reason I attacked your friend was because he looked just like the creature that terrorized us."

Giratina gave a low hiss. "Judging from the description you gave, I believe I know what attacked you - a Groudon demon, probably a mutated one. Ikazuchi is a smaller version of the being in question, and he has all of its powers. The same goes for his brother, Enkou. However, I assure you that neither of them is an enemy. I suspect that the Groudon demon you encountered was a construct, not a living thing, a lump of sludge and dirt artificially given a soul. That would explain why it was crazed. It would only be very young and have the most primal instincts."

"Very well, then." Ryuu shook the claw of Captain Ikazuchi, who gave a weak smile. "I now know that you have nothing to do with the Battle of Forina. As an apology, we will help you do whatever you have come for."

"We have come in search of the Spacial Spirit Palkia," explained Shaymin, terrified by the story and more grateful than ever that the two Groudon demons that he had met were his allies. Now he knew what their life-sucking powers were capable of. "He entered the Pokémon world close by here, and we're afraid something's happened to him. His own underlings can't get in contact with him."

"The Spatial Spirit. That isn't good," mused Gohan. "But as Ryuu said, as long as you need our help, we will accompany you. Ryuu and I are the most powerful Pokémon in the valley. Now, to begin with, we can show you to a friend of ours in the forest who might be able to help you find your missing Pokémon spirit..."


	8. Kidnapped!

**Giratina and the Heavenly War**

Chapter 8: Kidnapped!

Because he was a little bored of riding Giratina, Shaymin chose to ride atop Regigigas' left shoulder instead. The Lord of the Regal Ones didn't seem to care. He wouldn't trouble an old friend, and he had a fairly easygoing personality as Elemental spirits went. Shaymin had always found him much more likeable than the excitable Groudon and the overbearing High Spirits. Still carrying the Gracidea flower in his mouth, the King of Flowers sat back and watched Ryuu and Gohan lead them through the valley and into a group of trees. Although their guardian had assured them that Enkou and Ikazuchi were with the good guys, the wild Pokémon of Forina still eyed the two demons nervously. Shaymin couldn't blame them. As a nature spirit, he would usually be opposed to life-drainers like Groudon demons.

For their part, Enkou and Ikazuchi seemed terrified of Ryuu. The Flygon hadn't made an especially good first impression on them, even though they understood why he had attacked them. While they had promised never to use their powers to harm living things, they knew about the destruction that a rogue Groudon demon, particularly one of such size, could cause. Left unchecked, even a smaller Groudon demon could suck a land dry, although lesser ones like Enkou and Ikazuchi were less destructive. Ikazuchi had already confided to Shaymin that he wouldn't feed in the presence of Gohan or Ryuu. They were too sensitive about the issue, especially the Absol.

Dialga followed last, smaller Pokémon fleeing as he passed them by. He hadn't gotten any reports back from General K or the Unown, and as such was concerned about his brother. He didn't speak, presumably because he felt guilty about what had happened to Palkia. First the Spatial Spirit had turned psychotic, fled into the Pokémon world, and at last disappeared completely. Something had to have silenced his powers. Shaymin didn't especially want to know what could snuff out a powerful Pokémon spirit's natural abilities like that. If it was the same entity that had made a puppet out of Palkia and his brother, they had a powerful enemy to face.

To think this had all started when Shaymin had only wanted a little drink.

On the other hand, if there were two threats to the High Spirits, that was just as bad. At the very least this would divert them from the force that drove Pokémon spirits psychotic, giving the entity a chance to reestablish itself. Even worse, both forces, if indeed different, were hidden in the shadows. None of the Pokémon knew what they were facing.

In a way, that was what made them so dangerous.

As Ryuu made tracks through the forest, a path he had traveled many times, something watched them from the undergrowth. It gave a startled whir upon seeing Giratina with the group, withdrawing as Regigigas approached.

"Ryuu, who is this friend of yours? How will he - or she - help us find Palkia?" the Lord of the Regal Ones asked, unaware of the frustrated creature close by. The Flygon, Gohan at his side, spread out his wings and gave another signalling roar which echoed through the valley. In a moment, a green lizardlike Grovyle fumbled out of the grasses, standing before Ryuu and bowing respectfully.

"This is Shida," explained Ryuu, tail twisting on the ground. "She is a Grovyle who's one of the bravest explorers in Hoenn. She came to Forina to take a rest from travelling, but once you explain the gravity of the situation I think she'll be willing to help."

Shida strode past the Forina Pokémon and boldly approached Giratina. "If you and your friends would introduce yourselves, please? I prefer to get to know my clients before I work with them."

"I am Giratina, queen of the spirit world and the ruler of all demons." The Demon Queen introduced each of her traveling companions in turn. "This is Shaymin, the king of the Hana Sekai. Regigigas is an Elemental who rules over the three Regal Ones." Regigigas knelt, Shaymin still perched on his shoulder. My three faithful friends from the spirit world are Ikazuchi, my Captain of the Guards, his brother Enkou, and Itazura the _basan_." Dialga shoved past her, looking down on the explorer.

"I am the Temporal Spirit, Dialga, and we are looking for my brother, Palkia. He has disappeared, and his Unown scouts do not know where he is. We are afraid that something has gained influence over him. Can you help us?"

The Grovyle paced around in a circle, obviously unsure of what to do but not wanting to anger the mighty High Spirit. She turned to face him after a moment, nervous. "I am sorry to say that I haven't seen Palkia. All the same, his disappearance is alarming news. The presence of Elemental spirits helps to keep the environment cleaner than it otherwise would be, but if a spirit is injured or harassed its element is affected, too. So who would be stupid enough to interfere with space-time?"

Regigigas shrugged. "I am reminded of the Titans of the Orange Islands. They went insane, too, and their madness interfered with weather patterns in a way that, even if it didn't outright destroy this world, would have made it uninhabitable for most of its creatures. The culprit was a human collector, whose name we didn't think was worth remembering. All the same, driving High Spirits insane is different from driving Elementals insane. The war between Dialga and Palkia threatens all of the worlds, not just this one."

"Could a human be causing this, then?" Shaymin inquired. He hadn't considered the possibility, but given what humans had done in the past...

"I would like to think," grunted Regigigas, "that humans know better than to tamper with certain elements. Unfortunately, previous experience has shown us that this isn't the case. It wasn't always like that. I taught humans to respect the spirits. They must have forgotten."

"Disgusting creatures," Dialga muttered, pacing at the ground. "They are always trying to control or destroy Pokémon spirits. Our world would be better off without that kind of scum infesting it."

Shida cleared her throat. "Okay, then. Are we going to stand around and talk, or are we going to find your missing friend?" The Pokémon and spirits exchanged looks and followed the Grovyle, the exhausted Giratina leading them. "We'll discuss the plan in my camp, although I'm afraid that not all of you will be able to enter. We'll have to fill you in later."

The Grovyle stopped beside a large, abandoned wooden cabin, ushering the smaller members of Giratina's group inside, including Shaymin. Even Ryuu, Enkou, and Ikazuchi managed to squeeze in with some effort, although Dialga, ever aloof, decided to reenter Palkia's dimension to recieve news from General K. Regigigas wandered to a river close by to meditate in peace. Giratina, too, was unable to enter and decided to stay outside. Although she had healed somewhat after her battle with Dialga and Palkia, she was still hurt and weakened. She decided that it would be better if she waited some distance away from the cabin to rest.

There was a mechanical whir, like laughter, from the undergrowth, and Giratina turned her head. Before she could speak, a large gray Magnezone, single red eye shining, emerged from the shadows, its voice sympathetic.

"My, Lady Giratina, you do look tired. What have you come to Forina for, pray?"

Giratina narrowed her eyes. She was somewhat suspicious of this newcomer. It had seemingly appeared out of nowhere, which was strange enough, and its tone was persuasive, wheedling, almost hypnotic.

"I have come to find the Spatial Spirit Palkia. I doubt that you know where he is, Magnezone. Unless you have something important to say, leave. My friends are waiting for me."

"But what I have to say is important, my lady. I _do_ know where Palkia is. He is hiding deep in the forest, badly injured from his wounds. If you follow me, I can take you to him. Just stay close. We have to come alone, or he'll fly away. He is very skittish for some reason. I expect that he got into a fight." The Magnezone's eye gleamed. "Come on, then and I'll show you where he is. It isn't that far."

Warily Giratina followed the magnet Pokémon, her wings spread. She didn't completely trust it, but she did want to find Palkia. If she did, they could focus their attentions on what had driven them insane. Taking on so many different enemies at once would only confuse her and her allies.

"Magnezone?"

The Pokémon whirred with frustration. "Yes?"

"Something has drained or silenced Palkia's powers. Would you happen to know what did it, if you know where Palkia is?"

The Magnezone stopped, the air around it humming with electricity as it thought. "He is tired, and in pain, so his abilities do not work the way that they should. That is why he has lost contact with you. He should recover in a matter of time. Now, hurry along, Your Highness. We don't have all day."

Giratina reluctantly trailed the Magnezone through the forest, wondering why it was so evasive on the matter. It was certainly friendly, and seemed to know her well enough. It guided her into a clearing, open to a cloudy sky. It gave a metallic chuckle and disappeared, its magnets flashing a signal as the dragon Pokémon entered.

"Magnezone! Palkia isn't here. Where are you, liar?" she roared, wings spread as she prepared to defend herself. _A trap!_ She was disgusted with herself for being fooled, as sly as her guide was. A single Magneton hovered through a gap between the trees, confronting Giratina.

"My, you honestly believed that? In any case, you are now our prisoner. Do not try to get away. Our magnetism will prevent you from escaping into the dimensions. Stay still and this will not take long," it crackled smugly, releasing a Thunderbolt attack. In response, Giratina disappeared into her own shadow on the ground, which slid underneath the Magneton. She lunged out from the darkness, knocking it over.

"Ambitious words for a little Magneton."

It gave a sharp, clicking beep of distress, and a group of Magnemite entered the clearing, followed by another, and another. Commanded by their leader, they released shocks of electricity as one at Giratina. Although the attack made her stumble, Giratina stood her ground, releasing a Shadow Ball at one cluster to knock it down. She darted into more of the magnet Pokémon, slashing at some with her claws and bowling others over with her tail.

"This one's a fighter," remarked one to the Magneton, who had recovered. "We need more troops." The Magneton gave another series of beeps, and dozens of Magnemite streamed into the clearing and latched onto Giratina, pinning her down. With a screaming roar, she unfurled her wings, knocking them off, and swooped away into the sky to take the battle to the air. The Magnemite, led by the Magneton, followed her, blasting off a flurry of electric attacks. Giratina managed to teleport past most of the shots, retaliating with a blast of blue flames. Several of the vicious little mechanical Pokémon were struck and fell.

"Avenge them!" ordered the Magneton, clearly enraged. "Capture that Giratina!"

Giratina had no intention of being captured, shooting a stream of fire that took out more than a dozen of the Magnemite. She beat her wings harder, frustrated that she couldn't simply escape into another world. All the same, although a powerful Pokémon spirit, she couldn't take on so many Magnemite. There were just too many of them. For every one she dispatched several more took its place.

She flew higher, hoping that her pursuers would eventually give up the chase. She had never heard of so many Pokémon cooperating in such a way, focusing on a target with such single-mindedness. Something strange was happening. If she got away, she would have a lot to report to Shaymin and the others. A flash of electricity reminded her that escape was hardly a given. Magnemite were not especially powerful Pokémon, but what this particular batch did have was numbers.

She charged another ball of blue flames, even stronger than the last, and fired on her attackers. The magnet Pokémon scattered, Giratina swooping up toward a cloud for a better fighting position. She beat her powerful wings, preparing still another blast.

"Should we give it another round of shocks? It worked on Palkia. That should weaken it enough," a Magnemite soldier asked the Magneton, which buzzed its answer.

"No. We should wait. If the Giratina stays by that cloud, it'll be in for quite the surprise. Direct the troops to the ground."

"Yes, sir." The Magnemite plunged to the forest floor, followed by the Magneton and its soldiers.

Giratina roared in triumph, shooting another fire stream to see them off properly. Suddenly, she realized that it was very strange that they had suddenly retreated, although they had seemed so determined before. There was a rush of heat, and she wheeled round quickly enough to see the cloud dissolve as an orange fireball as fierce as her own struck her in the belly, causing her to fall. Struggling to stay conscious, she tried to get a look at her attacker as she plummeted toward the ground. All she could see was light reflecting off of something that seemed to be metallic.

She slammed into the forest floor with a sickening thud, knocking over several trees in the process. Exhausted, scales charred and body battered, her mind slipping as she fought to stay awake, she lifted her head weakly, only hearing mechanical cackles as the world around her dissolved into darkness.


	9. The Jishaku Imperium

**Giratina and the Heavenly War**

Chapter 9: The Jishaku Imperium

Shida leapt onto a dusty chair in a single bound and coughed. "All right, then. If I understand what you're saying properly, something is tampering with the High Spirits. Two things, if something sinister is also behind Palkia's disappearance. Whatever by the Original One is going on, it's fairly obvious that it isn't good. The general consensus is that there are probably humans in this world who are stupid enough to try and seize control over space-time. If the culprit is a human, he or she is an idiot. Unfortunately, he or she is also an idiot with the power to take on a High Spirit. I have no idea how one would go about deactivating a Pokémon's powers, but more likely than not it can be done."

Shaymin clasped his flower, more sure than ever that it would be a necessary weapon. His Land Forme, while not helpless, wasn't as agile or powerful as his Sky Forme. If they were going to fight, he needed the flower to be a genuine help to his friends. Now that he was out of the spirit world, drinking good clean sunlight again, the situation shifted a little to his favor. His powers as the King of Flowers came from nature, unlike Giratina's, whose abilities came from darkness and shadows.

Ryuu and Gohan stood close to Shida, the Flygon to her left and the Absol to her right. Gohan seemed anxious for the discussion to end while Ryuu was more thoughtful, head tilted. Shaymin liked the valley guardian. It was certainly good to have familiar-looking wild Pokémon as allies rather than the alien creatures he had met in Giratina's country. Then again, it was appropriate that a variety of creatures come together to solve the problem. Both Pokémon also had experience with Elementals and this kind of issue before, and would be valuable allies on that account as well.

"So, then," asked Ikazuchi, "what should we do first? Track down Palkia or find out what drove him crazy in the first place?" Enkou poked him in the shoulder and gestured to the window. "What is it, Enkou? You're being rude. Shida is speaking, and what she has to say is important." Enkou sighed and shrugged.

"Enkou," Shaymin asked the Groudon demon, "is something wrong?" Enkou nodded and pointed to the window again. This, Shaymin thought, was the problem with having a member of the group who couldn't speak. Even if Enkou had something important to tell them, he couldn't communicate directly. "Maybe we should look out the window. Enkou seems worried about something."

Springing down from the chair, Shida sprang onto the window frame. "Nothing's wrong. I can't see anything."

Enkou grunted, and Shaymin realized what he meant. "Giratina was out there! That's what's wrong. She's gone."

Ryuu flew to join them, Gohan loping along behind, followed by Ikazuchi and Itazura. "Shaymin's right," muttered the _basan_. "While we were talking, Giratina disappeared, too. This is seriously creepy."

"We don't know that," remarked Gohan. "She could have gone off somewhere for a rest. She seemed rather badly scratched up when I saw her."

"If you ask me," Shaymin snapped, "_something_ is going after the High Spirits. _Something_ abducted Palkia and somehow blocked his powers from working. And now the same _something_ just kidnapped Giratina!"

"Why?" clucked Itazura, scratching the cabin floor. "She isn't a High Spirit herself."

"Maybe Shida's hypothetical idiot doesn't know that. Maybe you don't see it, but I'm sensing a pattern here. This is serious, Itazura. We have to warn Dialga that he might be in danger."

A dimensional hole opened in the far side of the cabin. Dialga sprang out, his head brushing the roof even though he bent over. He stated, "I just had a word with General K in Palkia's dimension. He says that he still hasn't heard from Palkia and is expanding the search in the Pokémon world. Pinku, my assistant, said something similar."

Shaymin approached Dialga, looking up at him and trying to seem as brave as possible. "Lord Dialga, this is serious. We think Giratina's been captured, and Palkia has, too. Someone's messing with space-time. We think you should stay with us. If whoever's behind this tries again, we can find out where Giratina and Palkia are being kept so we can save them."

"You are planning to use me as bait?" roared Dialga, furious, and the other creatures in the cabin backed away out of fright. "I do not care about the Renegade, but I will help my brother. And the fool who dares to imprison him will pay."

Enkou jabbed a claw to the window again, and this time Shaymin did see something. A Magneton floated outside, glaring at them from its three eyes. It raised a magnet as a signal, and a swarm of Magnemite, at least forty, invaded the cabin. A large group of them immediately restrained Dialga as Shida leapt into battle, using a Solarbeam to knock several down. Ryuu swatted more away with his tail, his Ground typing giving him resistance to their electricity as they attacked him. Ikazuchi swung his sword to keep them away as Enkou tried to free Dialga, who seemed weakened by the sheer mass of magnet Pokémon surrounding him. Itazura sprayed blue flames, startling the Magnemite which rushed at him and driving them back. Two went for Shaymin, but a Magical Leaf attack forced them to retreat.

"Why are there so _many_ of these things?" Ryuu asked Gohan. "I've never seen so many Magnemite fight together before."

"This isn't going to be easy," muttered one to the Magneton as they went for Gohan, who used an energy scythe to fell three more. "This is even worse than Giratina was. At least we caught her alone."

That was all Shaymin needed to hear. He came to the front of the group with his flower, challenging the magnet army's leader. "All right, you. You just confessed to kidnapping Giratina. Tell us who you are, what you want, and who you're working for."

The Magneton gave a smug buzz, undaunted by the tiny creature which faced it. "Is this some kind of joke? Oh, I get it. You think you frighten us, don't you? We aren't so easily scared, especially not by something as small as you are. My name is Sergeant Major Hibana of the Jishaku Imperium, and these are my faithful troops. We've come here to catch Dialga for our boss, and will not tolerate any interruptions, even from something as helpless as you." Hibana gave a nasty snicker. "Now, then. Resistance is futile. Stand aside or you will be destroyed."

"And I am Shaymin, Lord of the Hana Sekai and King of Flowers." Shaymin looked to Dialga, covered by a mass of Magnemite as the two Groudon demons fought to free him, and his eyes narrowed as he took out the Gracidea flower and breathed in a deep sniff of its pollen.

"That's funny," Hibana sneered as his troops laughed mockingly. "How is a pretty flower supposed to help you stop us?"

The King of the Hana Sekai removed his snout from the flower, some stray grains of pollen still clinging to his fur. The yellow spots on his back developed and changed into pink flowers, identical to the ones on his cheeks, and he slowly vanished behind a veil of golden light. Hibana and his Magnemite watched, as if hypnotized, while the hidden form of Shaymin grew and changed shape.

"Shaymin, what on earth are you doing?" asked Gohan, and Ryuu replied, "I think that flower's doing something to him."

Shaymin's light began to fade as he leapt onto a fallen bucket to confront the Magneton directly. He was indeed greatly changed. The white on his body stayed, but his quills were gone, their only trace on his green paws and a crest on his head. Two deep red petals were on his back, and his ears were broad like thick, furry antlers. His general form suggested "dog" or "deer" rather than "hedgehog". His green eyes shone as he boldly addressed the Magnemite and Sergeant Major Hibana.

"Right then, now we're on even terms. However, I'll give you one last chance to tell us where Giratina and Palkia are. If you oblige, we'll allow you to leave in peace provided that you return our friends."

Hibana gave a cackling whir. "Do you honestly think that a couple extra inches and some tough talk will get us to lay aside our mission? Our job is to capture Dialga for our boss and to get rid of anybody who gets in our way. Troops! Destroy him!"

"Don't say I didn't warn you," Shaymin replied, bracing to fight.

The Magnemite obeyed their leader and went straight for Shaymin. He leapt into the air to dodge their electric attacks, flying as if he was a bird. Two Magnemite tried to trap him, but he soared above them, and they hit one another instead. Dialga managed to shake away the group pinning him down and swatted many more down with his tail. A beam from Ryuu took out a Magnemite who seemed to be one of Hibana's guards.

"Sergeant Major," one told him, his voice exhausted and terrified, "we should get out of here!"

Hibana's three eyes narrowed. "Never! To surrender is something members of the Jishaku Imperium never do! We fight until -" Shaymin spat a green blast at him, and he wavered. "All right, you've won this round, but you'll pay dearly for this, all of you."

Shaymin laughed as he watched the furious Magneton retreat through a window, followed by his soldiers. "And don't come back!" He turned to his friends. "That'll show them, for a while at least. Don't worry. We'll save Giratina from that rabble." His sharp ears detected a groan from the corner as a Magnemite, stunned by Ryuu's tail, slowly woke up. He sprang onto it, followed by Shida, who showed her claws.

"A prisoner, eh?" asked the Grovyle, and Shaymin nodded.

"All right," the Flower King barked to the Magnemite. "Tell us who you are, where Giratina and Palkia are being kept, and who you're working for."

"The prisoner whirred, "I'm Private Hirameki of the Jishaku Imperium."

"Not good enough. Who is this 'boss' you were going on about?" Shaymin growled.

"Don't hurt me!" wailed the private, wriggling pathetically in Shaymin's grip. "I don't know where it is now, but we do have an aerial base that we use to store the prisoners on. Only the boss knows much about it, though. Our leader is -"

"Is me!" Every eye in the cabin swivelled. A large gray Magnezone hovered beside one of the shattered windows. "My name is General Saiga, and I am the leader of the Jishaku Imperium. Hirameki, you fool, is all that it takes to get you to talk a little creature like that?"

"General, please..." The Magnemite began to whine. "They were torturing me."

"You and Hibana's boys couldn't wait for me to handle Dialga, could you? You just had to pick a fight with them, and by the look of things you weren't even successful in that. No matter - I'll handle this myself. As of now, consider yourself relieved of duty."

Hirameki sighed, "Yes, sir," and followed Hibana out the window as Saiga turned to face Shaymin and the others.

"For his loyalty to the cause, Hibana is lacking in many other things, and his thirst for battle is a liability to the Imperium. I assure you that I am by far more competent and a better fighter than he is."

Shaymin fearlessly confronted the larger Pokémon. "And I am Shaymin, who defeated Sergeant Major Hibana in battle. I can surely take you on, too!" Saiga said no more but charged, his magnets crackling with electricity. His red eye glinted, and he shot a green beam which Shaymin narrowly dodged. "Come on, General! Try your best!"

Saiga fired a bolt of electricity while Shaymin struck back with another Energy Ball. The Magnezone general shook off the attack, but the diversion it gave allowed Shaymin the time he needed to prepare another. The Flower King flew in fast circles, drawing the wind into a blue ball of energy. Before Saiga could strike, Shaymin fired the ball of wind at the Magnezone with enough strength to knock the Pokémon out the window.

"That takes care of him," Shaymin remarked, preening himself. "All the same, I think it would be a good idea to get out of here before General What's-his-name wakes up. He certainly does seem smarter than his henchmen, I'll give him that."

Shida nodded, watching the stunned form of General Saiga cautiously. "Dialga, that assistant of yours you mentioned might be useful for finding out where Palkia and Giratina are being kept."

"General K and his Unown could help, too, provided that K make himself useful for once," Dialga grunted as he vanished into a dimensional hole to make contact with his Celebi helper. Pinku was quicker-witted than General K and would be more subtle about her work than the Unown leader. Shida led Shaymin and the others out of the cabin to regroup with Regigigas and their other allies and plan their next move, ideally to save the two captive Pokémon spirits from Saiga and his minions.

Shaymin smiled; now that he had his Sky Forme, things weren't quite as bad as they looked.

* * *

When Giratina woke up, her head still stinging and her belly in pain from striking the ground so heavily, she felt rather closed in. This wasn't surprising, as she was being held in what seemed to be a magnetized cage. She tentatively touched it with a claw and recieved a shock. While she quickly recovered, she realized that it was there to make sure that she stayed where she was.

"I already tried. Don't bother," said a shadow in the corner. "They went out of their way to use magnets to weaken and suppress our powers." It shifted, revealing itself as a large pink dragonlike Pokémon, trapped in a cage much like Giratina.

"Palkia!" Giratina gave a startled roar. "What are you doing here?"

"Magnezone. He tricked me, told me that he knew a place to hide and then set his lackeys on me."

Giratina gave a grunt of sympathy. "Something similar happened to me. Tell me, who works here? Who captured us?"

Palkia shivered in embarassment and anger. "The Magnezone, for one, and a Magneton who seems to be his second-in-command. They're in charge of a whole swarm of Magnemite who essentially serve as soldiers and crew. They call themselves the Jishaku Imperium. There's another one, too. One of those filthy, two-legged vermin..."

"A human, you mean." Giratina folded in her wings to free herself up a little bit in the cage. "A human captured us."

"If those rotten traitors are working for him, yes. This is degrading." Palkia gave a scream in rage. "To be kept prisoner is an offense enough. To be kept prisoner by a human is a high crime. Oh, when I get my claws on him, he'll wish he'd never been born."

"Palkia, screaming and cursing won't help us escape. We need to find out why they've captured us."

"How should I know? He's an idiot, that's why. Anyone who's dense enough to mess around with space-time isn't exactly the most rational of people." Giratina nodded silently, waiting. The hot-headed Spacial Spirit would rather have ripped his captor's head off than question him, but she knew how to deal with humans a little better. She curled up, waiting. Knowing humans, the one who had arranged this would be coming to gloat over his achievement soon enough.

As it turned out, she was right. Her eyes flickered open to see two humans enter the room, one flickering like a projection while the other was obviously flesh and blood. He strode casually past Palkia, who cursed and spat death threats, and faced Giratina smugly. He was quite young, which made his white hair unusual, and his eyes were a golden color. That cold glare might have unnerved Giratina if it hadn't been for his uniform, which somewhat resembled herself in color and design.

"Greetings, Giratina," he hissed with a mock bow. "It is a pleasure to have you with us."

"Save your greetings for yourself," the Demon Queen replied, glaring. "Your costume looks ridiculous."

The human didn't even flinch, instead replying, "You know that I can understand every word you say, don't you? How would I command my warriors so well otherwise?"

"Then tell us why we're here. Why would you capture us? If you're smart enough to pull a stunt as idiotic as this off, surely you're smart enough to know that the space-time continuum is not a toy. What do you want?"

"You are correct that I am indeed very interested in you and your powers, and since you are no threat in your magnetized pens I will explain a few things about my plans."

The hologram, resembling a young woman with brightly-colored hair and a blue-and-white uniform, stood beside her master. "What are your orders, sir? General Saiga has not reported capturing Dialga yet."

"Go to the flight deck and wait for him, Infi. Saiga shouldn't take long. He's never failed me before. Let me know when he returns."

"Yes, sir." The flickering shape bowed and disappeared.

"A robotic girlfriend. That's cute," remarked Palkia with a sneer of his own. "Someone doesn't have a life." He was ignored, however, as the first human continued to talk to Giratina.

"My name is Zero. Saiga's boys helped me build this ship with iron taken from Sinnoh's mines - I'm only a researcher, you see, and I have no way to afford such a thing on my own - and I programmed Infi to help me control it. While this was being done, I did some work of my own in a library I used to visit there and made a discovery that inspired my current plans. Dialga and Palkia were tempting targets. I need control of time and space for my plan to work. However, all the legends I'd heard were wrong. There were never only two High Spirits. There were _three_."

Giratina froze, realizing what he meant. "You're wrong. I'm not a High Spirit. I don't have control over any elements."

"Yes, you do," gloated Zero. "There is a world directly opposite this one, called the Reverse World. You once ruled there, but you were cast out into another."

"There isn't a Reverse World. You're deluded," Giratina told him. "The world I control is completely different."

"There is a Reverse World," her captor hissed, "and I know it exists because I've been there! I've been waiting for six years to come back there and claim it as my own. Thanks to you, I have my chance. It was I who shot you when you escaped Saiga's boys from the safety of my war shuttle. You were a most obliging target, by the way. Now all that's left to do is take the three High Spirits' abilities to give us the ability to cross dimensions."

"Coward," Giratina glowered down at the human. "That is the worst excuse for an evil plan I've ever heard. If you harm or kill Dialga and Palkia, time and space will lose balance, and everything, including this precious Reverse World of yours, will be destroyed. It isn't too late to stop this. Let us go and get a life."

The holographic woman, who Giratina had heard Zero call Infi, returned through the open door, the Magnezone and Magneton beside her. "Saiga and Hibana are here with a report, sir."

"Good." Leaving Giratina, the human instead faced the two magnet Pokémon. "What is it, Saiga? Has Dialga been captured?"

"Unfortunately, no," remarked the Magnezone, pushing the Magneton forward. "Sergeant Major Hibana botched it. He picked a fight before I could deal with him like I did the others. I'm afraid that now Dialga knows what's going on and, what's worse, he has a friend who might cause us some trouble."

"What is it?"

Hibana, the Magneton, gave an alarmed beep. "It was a small green fuzzy creature, sir, a small fuzzy creature that drove us off and stopped us from taking Dialga. It was terrifying." Neither Zero nor General Saiga seemed particularly impressed. "It even beat Saiga," Hibana squeaked in an attempt to save face.

"I could have handled it, you idiot," Saiga told him, his eye glowing menacingly, "if you and your troops hadn't run out on me!"

Giratina heard Zero mutter something to his Magnezone partner about incompetence. "That's what you get when you recruit wild Pokémon to help," Saiga told him, glowering at the humiliated sergeant major. "This isn't a disaster. Come with me, and we'll think of a way around this. As for you, Hibana, this is the last time I'll entrust you with something that important."

"How ungrateful," muttered Hibana as he followed them out. "I captured Giratina and Palkia for you, and this is the thanks I get?"

Palkia had sat in his cage during the entire conversation, simmering. "How dare you capture me, filth! You and your Pokémon traitors are dead once I get out of here! Dead, you hear me? I will personally kill the lot of you!"

As for Giratina, she was quite worried. Not about the possibility of this upstart human laying claim to territory that wasn't his, but her feeling that things on board this place were very strange. For someone who was allegedly in charge of the whole plan, Zero hadn't done that much for himself. Even firing on Giratina had relied on Hibana and the Magnemite soldiers leading her there in the first place. For a Pokémon under the ownership of a human, Saiga seemed very authoritarian in a way that her captor's ability to communicate with him didn't explain.

Even though she was a prisoner, she was determined to learn more about her captors and figure out if there was any way that the magnetized cages could be disabled, allowing her and Palkia to escape. At the very least she hoped to give her kidnappers plenty of trouble and buy time for her allies on the ground to figure out what was going on and deal with the Jishaku Imperium.


	10. To Conquer the Sky

**Giratina and the Heavenly War**

Chapter 10: To Conquer the Sky

When General Saiga went to the battleship's cockpit to speak with Zero, he was surprised to find the leader of the Jishaku Imperium hunched in his chair, staring at some old framed photographs. He was too absorbed in whatever it was he was doing to notice the Magnezone, allowing Saiga to sneak a look at the pictures. One was of Zero in a sleek white labcoat standing beside a rugged-looking bearded scientist, both of them laughing at something. Another was of the two working away at some sort of gray boxlike invention, exhausted and stained by machine oil but excited and eager. The third was of two Pokémon, a Magnemite and a Shieldon, standing beside their respective humans in a well-lit laboratory.

Saiga couldn't stop himself from emitting a groaning whir. He thought he'd talked Zero into getting rid of these years ago. Hearing, the human stood up, trying to hide the pictures. "Ah. General Saiga. Do you have something to report?"

"No, but I do have concerns." The general's single eye gleamed. "What are you doing? What are those?"

Zero laughed nervously. "I was just thinking about the old days. Nothing more than that."

"Master, you are going to be the ruler of the Reverse World. What kind of a ruler shuffles through old photographs? You don't _miss_ him, do you?"

"No, of course not."

"Good. Then you won't mind when I ask you to hand over the pictures. There's no going back, master. The past is the past. We must think of the future." General Saiga came forward, but Zero resisted, holding onto them.

"Saiga, they're mine. They're all I have left of him. Let me have these."

"I said, _the past is the past_. Give the pictures to me. We don't have time for this kind of thing. If you still remember, we have to go ahead and set up the machinery to drain Giratina and Palkia's energy. Better the two dragons we do have than waste our resources and soldiers on Dialga." Noticing that Zero wasn't listening to him, Saiga lunged, and the photographs smashed against the floor of the control room. The human stared at Saiga, startled, looking from the Magnezone general to the pieces on the floor.

"Saiga, what did you do that for?"

"To get your attention," Saiga buzzed, frustrated by the rest of the Imperium. He had spent a good amount of time berating Sergeant Major Hibana for attacking before he was ordered to. Now even his human was wasting his time in the control room instead of putting their plan in action. "Now that you're listening to me, I would advise that we go ahead and arrange the proper equipment to prepare for our trip to the Reverse World. Have Infi check the supplies - after all, we won't be coming back."

"What about Dialga?" Zero asked, and General Saiga gave an irritated whir.

"We shouldn't bother with Dialga, master. Thanks to Hibana's stupidity, he's been alerted. No doubt he'll be more careful to stay with his companions and we'll never catch him alone. We should go ahead and take the energy out of Giratina and Palkia before they come here in search of them. While you get the supplies ready, I'll set Hibana and his soldiers on guard duty." Saiga waved his left magnet, and Zero scrambled out of the control room to call for the holographic maid.

The Magnezone had suspected for a long time that his master was too flighty to control a world on his own, and this encounter had confirmed it. While Zero was certainly interested in the plan, Saiga found several aspects of it, such as cutting the real world off from the Reverse World, at odds with his own ideas for the alternate dimension. Although their partnership had been useful for the time being, Saiga felt that its usefulness was beginning to run short.

* * *

Dialga wriggled out of the dimensional hole he had made, a pink elflike Celebi at his side along with General K, and took a stand beside Shaymin and Regigigas. The three Pokémon spirits stood before their assembled rescue party: Ikazuchi and Enkou, their swords drawn, Itazura, his wattle scarlet with outrage, Gohan and Ryuu, claws bared, and Shida, eager for battle. In Giratina's absence, Shaymin was the unspoken leader of the group, as he had proven to be the best at fighting Saiga's Magnet Pokémon soldiers.

Pinku and General K, as it turned out, made better partners than enemies. The Unown leader's ability to communicate with Palkia was gone, but he had kept the power to make dimensional holes. Pinku was able to use these holes to travel through the worlds unnoticed, and during her hunt for Palkia and Giratina had managed to detect something warping space-time. That something, Pinku discovered, was a patchwork metal battleship which almost didn't seem able to fly. Examining the thing, she had observed several Magnemite standing guard, preventing her from entering.

However, what she had seen was more than enough to connect the thing to Giratina and Palkia's Magnemite kidnappers. She still didn't know why there were so many together, or why the High Spirits had been abducted, but now the Unown and the Celebi could work together to make a rescue mission possible. Under normal circumstances, it would be impossible for Regigigas and the Groudon demons to come along, since they couldn't fly and were too large and bulky to ride on Ryuu or Dialga. Shaymin was able to fly on his own, and offered to fly up ahead to distract the Magnemite to give Pinku and K the chance to slip inside and create a dimensional hole to let the others through. At that point, they could rescue the prisoners and take down the Jishaku Imperium.

"Saiga told us," Shaymin explained, "that Sergeant Major Hibana likes to fight. Hibana also hates me for humiliating him in the cabin. Therefore, he'll shrug off guard duty for the chance to have his revenge. I'll provide a diversion while the rest of you free Giratina and Palkia. At that point, there'll be enough of us that we can deal with them for good."

Regigigas agreed, although he pointed out that Shaymin would be in quite a bit of danger. Although he had handled Hibana before, there would be even more Magnemite guards during the second battle and they would be fighting in the open sky. Shaymin replied that, as long as he was in Sky Forme, the sky was his element, too, and he and Hibana would be on even terms. Ryuu offered to accompany him, but the Flower King declined. It would be better if the Magnemite were focused on a single target.

Leaving his friends behind, Shaymin swept into the clouds, emerging to see the thing above Forina that Pinku had described. It was a massive metal battleship, all angles and joints, made of rusted iron. The little king was frankly amazed that the thing could fly. It seemed clunky, fitted together poorly. He couldn't imagine Hibana and the Magnemite, even cunning General Saiga, building and piloting it. A human was probably, as always, involved. Shaymin swooped in closer to explore, seeing Sergeant Major Hibana hovering near the strange craft's center. He gave a shout, getting the Magneton's attention.

"Hey, magnet-face! Look behind you! It's me, Shaymin!"

Hibana whirled in a rage, his three eyes narrowing at the sight of the little Pokémon, who waved cheerfully. He gave three quick, sharp beeps, calling his soldiers from across the vast metal ship to join him. "Soldiers, that creature was the thing which stopped us when we tried to capture Dialga. Because of it, General Saiga sent me to work on sentry duty instead."

"We can't just leave sentry duty, sir," pointed out a Magnemite, and Hibana roughly shoved it aside.

"Private Hirameki, I am your sergeant major, and this is a direct order. Kill it! Kill it!"

As one, the Magnemite soldiers left their posts at Hibana's screeching demands and went directly for Shaymin, who fired an Energy Ball to disperse them. The Magnemite returned fire with a slew of Thunderbolt attacks which Shaymin struggled to dodge. "You'll need to try harder than that!" he jeered, calling up some leaves to fire at them. Several of the Steel-types fell to the barrage, but many more replaced them, a furious Sergeant Major Hibana at their head.

"No one makes a fool out of me and lives to tell of it!" the Magneton screamed, firing an attack of his own which the Sky Forme nimbly dodged.

"I don't have to," retorted Shaymin. "You do a good job of it yourself." Hibana didn't reply, but shot an angry yellow bolt at the Flower King. The other Magnemite followed, only Hirameki lagging behind. The Magnemite seemed to be more reluctant than the others; Shaymin noticed that he was misfiring on purpose, as if he only wanted to drive Shaymin away. He had seemed rather cowardly when Shaymin had first met him in the cabin.

"You can't outrun us forever," snapped the enraged sergeant major, preparing another attack. "I swear I'll kill you before the day's through. I don't care about the boss. I don't care about the plan. All I want to do is to see you dead." He fired another Thunderbolt, this time hitting his target. Shaymin fell with a cry, but instead of plunging to his death as Hibana had planned, his head was stuck in a hole in the ship, trapping him. Hibana, accompanied by Private Hirameki, dove to investigate.

"That'll stop you flying around, eh? Hirameki, kill him."

"Kill him?" asked Hirameki, pausing midflight. "Sergeant Major, isn't that a little harsh? He can't bother us now."

"Hirameki, you are a member of the Jishaku Imperium. Your job is to deal with anything that gets in our way. Now stop your whining and help me finish this Shaymin!"

Hirameki gave a whirring sigh, watching Shaymin struggle. "No."

Hibana suddenly lashed out, striking Hirameki with another Thunderbolt. With a pained beep, the little Magnemite fell with a clatter onto a wing of the battlecraft. The sergeant major glowered at him disapprovingly before confronting Shaymin, his magnets crackling with electricity. "Now then, stay still and this won't hurt a bit..."

* * *

Within Zero's battleship, Giratina noticed that activity on board was starting to pick up. The Magnemite crew had been working hard, filling the room with eerie-looking machinery - two clear boxes connected by a long black tube, one fixed to Giratina's back while the other was attached to Palkia's neck. Another group of Magnemite set up a dome-shaped device that both tubes led into. After their job was done, the Magnemite hovered around the room, observing the captives.

When they heard the screeching yell of Sergeant Major Hibana, the whole pack fled the room to help him. Giratina thought that she had heard Shaymin's name, and her hopes rose. Her friends must have discovered what was going on and come here to deal with Saiga and Zero! She managed a weak roar, turning Palkia's head.

"Don't get too excited," warned the Spatial Spirit. "Our other _friends_ are coming back, and by the looks of it they're finally ready to carry out their insane plan."

Saiga led Zero into the room, both of them taking a stand behind an electronic control panel. With the flick of a switch, the machine hummed to life. Giratina felt a sharp, stabbing pain as the box clasped onto her back, glowing red. She howled, hearing Palkia do the same as his box activated. The domelike device showed a screen which recorded how much of each Pokémon spirit's energy had been drained.

Fighting back the pain, she made one last attempt to reason with her captors. "Saiga, Zero, don't you understand? Humans can't rule another world. That's the job of the High Spirits. Even if you have our powers, you won't be able to use them properly. The universe will destabilize, killing everything, including you two!"

"There's no need for Pokémon gods anymore," hissed Saiga, eye turned to his companion, who nodded. "This is a new age, one where Pokémon will live free from humans, and where the gods will be nothing but a memory. As founders of our colony in the Reverse World, we will be gods ourselves. Even Infi will one day be the first of thousands of beings like her, which we will use to populate the world with and will serve as our subjects."

"By murdering us!" protested Giratina, wings changing shape as she fought in the cage. _20% drained_, read the screen on the central dome.

"Well, we all have to make sacrifices, don't we?" Saiga remarked casually as he watched Giratina struggle. "Rest assured, it's nothing personal."

"We need your energy, partly as fuel for our ship and partly so that we can enter the Reverse World," Zero explained, as if he was lecturing a student. "We would have preferred to have captured Dialga, too, but you and Palkia will do for one trip. That's all we need." He threw back his head and laughed. "Imagine, a High Spirit who doesn't know it's a High Spirit!"

Saiga's eye moved to the dome's screen, now reading _40% drained_. On a whim, he looked out of a gap in the ship's metal, only to see Sergeant Major Hibana striking a Magnemite and approaching some sort of creature whose head was trapped in the ship. He couldn't stop himself from groaning.

"Excuse me, master, but Hibana is being an incompetent nitwit again. I'll just be dealing with him for a moment." Saiga hovered past the cages to confront the sergeant major. "Hibana! What are you doing? Get back to watching the ship!"

Hibana sighed, turning away from Shaymin. "I found the little Pokémon who beat us in the cabin, General. I was about to get rid of it." As the two Magnet Pokémon argued, Shaymin managed to slip between the hole and into the battlecraft, the room neighboring the cages. He could hear arguing from the door as Saiga continued to tear into Sergeant Major Hibana.

"Why must I be cursed with a second-in-command as incompetent as you? Hibana, if you can't even manage guard duty properly I don't know what I can do with you! Go back to watching the outside of the ship if you're too stupid to do anything else!" Saiga dismissed Hibana with a flash of his left magnet, and the disgraced Magneton left at once. Saiga quickly checked the dome, ignoring the cries of the dragons. _65% drained_. Fighting to open her eyes, Giratina noticed that, while Zero was watching Hibana, Saiga secretly yanked the tubes out of the plug, cutting off the power. The throbbing pain stopped, and the boxes fell off of her back and Palkia's neck.

_General Saiga saved us! But why..._

Before Zero noticed, Saiga put the tubes back in to make it seem as if the machine had simply failed. As the humming died down, the human sprang from the control panel and ran to the machine. "What happened, General? It was working fine before."

"It must have broken down," Saiga lied smoothly. "All the same, we have collected around 67% of the energy of Giratina and Palkia. That should be enough to get us into the Reverse World. We'll head to the cockpit and set our destination there. Think about it, master! Won't it be wonderful to see your country again?"

"Yes," Zero said excitedly, seemingly forgetting about the two caged High Spirits. "Yes! I'll lead you there, Saiga." He strode, almost running, through the hallway, Saiga following along behind. Giratina was puzzled by the general's behavior. He had egged Zero's crazed plan on before, but had acted to foil it. Had the Magnezone had a change of heart?

A few minutes after the two vanished, Shaymin, who had been hiding from them in the hallway, darted into the room. Now that the coast was clear, Pink and General K combined their powers to open a dimensional hole in the middle of the room. First Ryuu flew out, Gohan springing into a sitting position behind him. Regigigas stood beside Giratina, ripping her cage open with his bare hands. Dialga emerged next, using a fireball to free Palkia. Enkou, Ikazuchi, Itazura, and Shida tumbled in next, packing the deck.

"We're here to rescue you," Shaymin announced proudly. "Sorry if you don't recognize me. This is my Sky Forme."

Giratina, despite her exhaustion, managed a happy roar. "It's good to see you again, Shaymin, and thank you for freeing me, Regigigas. Now to deal with Zero and Saiga."

"Who is Zero?" asked Regigigas, scratching his head. "We know General Saiga, but he never mentioned a Zero."

"He's the one in charge of this place. He has a maid named Infi, who runs the ship through the main computer room. A researcher of some sort."

Why wouldn't Saiga mention him? Perhaps Saiga liked to see himself as the ruler of the Imperium. Giratina hadn't considered this possibility, but it would explain a lot. Zero was too obsessed with his deranged plan to understand that he would destroy the universe if the High Spirits were killed, but Saiga wasn't. Saiga wouldn't want the Reverse World ruined.

Not if he had plans to rule it himself.

* * *

Saiga hovered ahead into the cockpit, followed closely by Zero, who was literally trembling with excitement. Before the human could get in the seat, however, Saiga floated in the way, Infi appearing beside him. The maid had something in her pocket that she hadn't had before, but something that Zero couldn't get a good look at. Saiga's single red eye gleamed menacingly as he spoke.

"It's time I told you a few things, 'master'. We've been together for many years, ever since you were a miserable researcher and I a puny Magnemite. We concocted this magnificent plan of ours to enter and rule the Reverse World together as kings. We decided that our new, hidden colony would be free of humans. _All_ humans."

Zero stopped dead, realizing what Saiga was hinting at. "Saiga, what are you saying?"

"I'm saying that I don't want a maniac with a, frankly, stupid costume and an unhealthy Giratina obsession ruling alongside me. I think the Reverse World would be much better off if _I_ ruled it instead of you. This means, I'm afraid, that you have to be removed from the equation. Isn't that right, Infi?"

The maid bowed to Saiga, much to Zero's increasing horror. "Yes, Lord Saiga."

"Saiga," he spluttered, "this is mutiny! Insubordination! You turned her against me!"

"That's one way of putting it," Saiga continued. "Infi simply agrees that we and Hibana's boys have done more than our share of work on this precious plan of yours. I recruited the Magnemite and Hibana from the wild and persuaded them to help us. I captured Palkia and did the bulk of the work with Giratina. Hibana and the boys built your battlecraft. All you did was play around with your flashy war shuttle and read a few books in the library in Sinnoh. So, you see, we're taking over. Come with us. You're going back to the caging room, this time as one of the prisoners!"

"But I'm supposed to be the king of the Reverse World!" Zero protested, and Infi pulled a small ray gun from her pocket and pointed it directly at him.

"Stop complaining, or I pull the trigger. On to the caging room, 'sir'," the maid smirked, clearly enjoying herself as she marched her creator and former master out of the cockpit. Instead Saiga took Zero's seat, hovering above it. The controls weren't built for a Magnezone's use, and Saiga didn't have opposable thumbs, but he had watched his old owner enough to have some idea of how they worked. He pulled a lever with his magnets, and the great battleship began to move.

* * *

Giratina and her allies were surprised when the door suddenly opened, revealing Zero and Infi. Dialga snapped to attention, but what they saw shocked them out of attacking. Zero was clearly a prisoner, seeing as the maid forced him into the chamber at gunpoint while he glowered at her. She surveyed the room, observing the group of Pokémon and creatures there.

"Don't attack her," Giratina warned Dialga as his diamond began to glow. "She's a hologram. It'll go right through her."

"Right, then," Infi chirped in a voice that was unsettlingly cheerful, weapon still drawn. "Lord Saiga is setting our coordinates for the Reverse World right now. When we make it there, we will dispose of you all. Have fun with your new friends, 'sir'. If they kill you, it'll save us the trouble later." She strutted out of the room to rejoin Saiga at the cockpit.

Regigigas sighed. "We have to do something. Somehow, we've got to get out of this room without alerting the maid or any stray Magnemite."

"That stinking traitor." Zero, still seething over General Saiga's betrayal, had crawled into a leaning position between Itazura and Gohan, staring blankly ahead and scarcely seeming to notice them. "I can't believe it. He was using me."

Palkia roared, raising a glowing hand. "This is your fault, filth. As soon as we make it to the ground, we'll have you put to death."

"Wait!" Zero protested, standing up. "If we're going to get out of this mess alive, you need me. I'm the only one who knows how to drive this thing. How about we call a truce?"

Palkia's hand dulled, and he sounded disappointed. "I hate to say this, but you're right. As soon as we reach the ground, however, our truce is null and void. I look forward to dealing with you then," he added with a truly murderous glare.

"I'm still deciding which of you two is more psychotic," muttered Shaymin as he flew around in a circle. "The loopy researcher, or the High Spirit obsessed with executing people."

The door slid open again, and Infi entered, ray gun drawn. "Lord Saiga told me that he can't concentrate with you talking as loudly as you are. I think I'll go ahead with my part of the plan now."

"That's what you think, you crazy piece of code!" Itazura charged, spewing more flames than he ever had before, and the maid dropped her gun from shock. Acting on instinct, Shida reached for it, realizing that it was solid, made of some sort of realized data. In an instant she darted into the hallway, rushing down a dimly lit corridor to a room marked **CENTRAL COMPUTER**. She fired a Solarbeam attack to break her way in, scrambling into the room and raising the ray gun. She fired once, the blast destroying the computer screen.

Back in the prisoners' chamber, Infi began to dissolve and fade away into a fine mist, vanishing completely as the Grovyle came in, the ray gun also vanished from her claws. She was panting from exhaustion. "Well, I did it. That's the maid done for." The Pokémon and spirits cheered and roared, Giratina spreading her wings while Itazura gave a happy crow. Far off in the corner, Zero cleared his throat, drawing everyone's attention.

"I would hate to interrupt, but there's a slight problem. When you dealt with Infi, did you shoot the main computer?"

"Um, yes. Shouldn't I have done that?" While she would otherwise have been reluctant to trust the human who had caused so much trouble, Shida saw real fear in Zero's wide golden eyes.

"She was in charge of managing the engines, and they were tied to the main computer by code. Without her, the ship will crash in a matter of minutes. I'm afraid to say that, more likely than not, we're all going to die."


	11. Giratina's Bargain

**Giratina and the Heavenly War**

Chapter 11: Giratina's Bargain

Shida faced Zero, still slouching in the corner of the room and surprisingly calm about the possibility of his own death. "You built this thing, or at least helped create it. Tell us how we can get out of here."

"There isn't anything we can do. If we don't hit the ocean, we'll all be killed in the crash." Zero sighed, briefly looking outside. "At least with the engines dead Saiga won't be able to fly the ship or use my war shuttle. Even though we'll die, we'll die together."

"That's a relief." Shaymin perched on the remains of Palkia's cage, his voice sarcastic. "I can fly, and so can Ryuu, but the rest of us can't in this cramped space. Even Giratina needs some time to rest. She had her energy drained, and it was _your_ fault, Zero."

Zero glowered briefly at the little creature. "I already know that."

Ikazuchi coughed slightly, his yellow eyes glowing. "Good. Since this whole fiasco took place because you wanted to play at being a High Spirit, you're going to help us get out of it."

"If you don't," Dialga added, teeth bared, "I will make your death even more agonizing than it already will be." The human shrank back, trying to hide behind Regigigas and Giratina, presumably hoping that they weren't out for his blood like the other High Spirits.

The Demon Queen faced the Temporal Spirit, tail curled, folding her wide black wings while confronting the spirit who she had learned was her brother. "Threatening him will get us nowhere. We need him to escape this ship before it crashes." Dialga ground his teeth, but didn't speak again. Giratina turned to Zero, trying to hold back her anger, both at him and Dialga. "Is there anyone on board this ship who might still be loyal to you rather than Saiga?"

"Hm. There might be Hibana, unless Saiga already had a word with him. I don't think his motivations were as selfless as he made them sound when he turned on me. Chances are he could care less about Hibana. They never got along very well - Hibana thought Saiga was a snob, while Saiga thought Hibana was hopelessly reckless and stupid. Good for leading the troops, but not for making plans."

"If you're going to call for him," Shaymin muttered, "I'm hiding. He hates me. Not just the hatred of an enemy, mind, but the 'broke off from guard duty just to kill me' kind of hate." He dove behind Enkou's back, hoping that the Groudon demon wouldn't expose him. He did not need another fight with Sergeant Major Hibana. He cautiously watched as Zero looked out of an opening to check if the Magneton was still guarding the ship.

"Hibana? Hibana?"

After a pause, Shaymin heard the whirring, mildly annoyed voice of Sergeant Major Hibana, who was clearly very confused about his orders. Despite his emnity with the other Pokémon, the Flower King understood this. The deputy leader had been told that he was an idiot, restricted to guard duty as punishment, and had clearly been locked out of Saiga's plans, too.

"Oh, what is it now, boss? Are you going to insult me again? If you are, I see no reason to stick around."

"No, Hibana." Zero leaned in, his voice a whisper so soft that even Shaymin's hearing, enhanced by his Sky Forme, could barely make it out. "I need your help. General Saiga took over the ship and locked me in here with the prisoners. Do you know a way out of here? Is Saiga in the war shuttle?"

Hibana gave a buzz that sounded like laughter. "Well, I hate to say this, boss, but there's something fitting about that. Why should I help you? I see no more reason to be part of your ridiculous Jishaku Imperium. Why, I think there's no such thing as the Reverse World in the first place, and even if there is I don't know why I would want to live there. Without war there's nothing left for me here."

"One last favor," Zero asked, almost begging. It was curious to see someone who was once so arrogant fall so far, pleading with his own underling to survive."Help me, Sergeant Major Hibana. I want to think that there's someone on this ship of traitors that I can trust."

Hibana whirred again, this time with an angrier note to it. "Oh, yes, I remember. All those times you and your Magnezone lackey called me an idiot, even though we did most of the work on this floating trash heap. Saiga just kicked me out of the cockpit when he saw that the controls stopped working. He said 'riff-raff' like me weren't to bother him during such a historic moment. Now that you're nothing, you need my help. It's back to the wild for me and the boys now that you're finished." His central eye narrowed as he backed up, Shaymin watching as he literally screamed an order of his own. "My name is not Sergeant Major Hibana! It's just Hibana now." He vanished, and judging from the clatter the Magnemite followed along behind.

After a few moments Itazura observed, "That went well."

"Well, it was worth a shot, wasn't it?" Zero snapped, returning to his place. "I'd like to see if anyone else has a better idea and can pull it off before the ship crashes. This is officially the worst day of my life."

Gohan bared his fangs from the opposite end of the room, furious. "The rest of us aren't exactly having the time of our lives up here, are we?" He sat on his haunches, exchanging a glance with Ryuu. "I guess it's up to us, then. I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm not going to die without a fight."

As she limped to the room's center, Giratina's shadowy wings fanned out, and she gave a roar to draw attention to her. "No one is going to die! I may be weakened, but we High Spirits are still durable beings. I can take worse than this. I think I am still strong enough to fly. Let me handle the wall, as soon as I get everyone away." The group scrambled to the other side of the room, except for one. Zero didn't join them. The researcher was trembling against the wall he hadn't moved from, terrified but struggling not to show it. Despite what he had almost done to her, Giratina felt pity for him. For his part, he had been tricked and used by a Pokémon he had trusted and who had been with him for a long time. She lumbered forward, preparing to spring.

"Leave him here," Palkia snapped, fangs showing. "He deserves to stay."

Seeing the enormous gray dragon Pokémon lunging at him, black beak agape, Zero slumped against the side of the room, out cold from fright. Rather than devouring him, as Shaymin guessed he had assumed would happen, Giratina delicately lifted his limp form onto her back with her beak, where he lay spread and lifeless. She faced Palkia defiantly, a clawed foot raised.

"No. I will never let a living creature die if I can help it." Gohan growled, but sheathed his claws, respecting her decision. Dialga and Palkia glared balefully, but didn't interfere as she spat a fireball, blasting a jagged hole in the side of the ship, opening it to the sky. "Now, those of us who can fly - me, Dialga, Palkia, Shaymin, and Ryuu - will glide to the ground now."

"We're heading to a lake, as far as I can tell," Ryuu observed, looking out of the hole. "It's close to a forest, although I don't think this is Forina, or even Hoenn territory at all."

"Great," muttered Gohan, pacing anxiously. "We're lost. We're going to die, and we're lost."

Shida, as an explorer, seemed less frightened than the others. "We aren't lost. We just need to use landmarks to learn where we are."

"A lake?" Shaymin sighed, thinking of the Magnezone who was no doubt struggling with the battlecraft's broken controls, who was destined to be entombed in cold, dark water and the shattered metal cocoon of Zero's ship. He shuddered, although he knew how duplicitous and vile the general was; that wasn't a fate he would wish easily on anything living, human or Pokémon. "That will take care of Saiga, then."

Giratina nodded grimly, as she also knew that Saiga was too far gone to accept their help. She gave a growl, Itazura answering by using his talons to grip her golden spines while also holding onto Zero. In a single swift movement, the Demon Queen leapt from the falling ship, plunging for the forest with the _basan_ and the human on her back. Her wings fanned out to ease the fall, allowing her to catch herself in the air.

Ryuu looked to the Groudon demons and Regigigas. They couldn't fly, but the sludgelike bodies of Enkou and Ikazuchi meant that they could take more punishment than other creatures. He instructed them to climb, using their tendrils to help them grab the ship's jagged edges. Regigigas was an immortal spirit, and an especially tough-skinned one at that. He agreed to climb as well, his strength allowing him to cling to the metal and keep his grip. Watching the three make their way off the battlecraft, Dialga and Palkia jumped, too, Gohan atop Palkia's neck and clinging to it for grim death while Shida clutched Dialga's spines. The two great dragons followed Giratina, circling, drawing closer.

Last of all, Ryuu unfurled his red-edged wings and sprang, gliding gently down to the ground, Shaymin following him. The Flygon was a good flyer for a Pokémon unfamiliar with this new forest. He immediately straightened and hurled himself down like a javelin, wings flat against the air, the King of the Hana Sekai keeping up with some effort. He briefly hovered by Enkou and Ikazuchi as they made their way to a safe position and jumped, proceeding to do the same for Regigigas. As the great Lord of the Regal Ones fell to the ground, landing on his sturdy feet, Ryuu and Shaymin streaked away to find Giratina.

Fortunately, she hadn't landed far from where Enkou and Ikazuchi were, concerned for her guards' safety. As Ryuu and Shaymin made their way to the ground, Itazura leapt off of her back, his talons hitting the ground. He gave a loud crow and blew a triumphant burst of blue flames.

"Well, we made it," Shaymin stated proudly. "And that's the last we'll hear of the Jishaku Imperium."

Ryuu, sober despite their victory, bowed his head. Pokémon were not naturally evil. Saiga was the first truly wicked one that he had ever met in his years as guardian of Forina. The reason for Saiga's evil was partly because the Magnezone wasn't satisfied with being a Pokémon - he had wanted to be human. That had been what had ruined him, just as his former human's own dark obsessions had blackened his own heart and left him open to Saiga's manipulations. Saiga would die, while Zero had lived. Their relationship was a twisted one, a perversion of the usual bond between humans and Pokémon. Perhaps, if the damage could be undone, Shaymin, Giratina, and the others could find out what he had once been before the venom and ambition settled in. He watched the battlecraft crash into the lake some meters away, sinking to the bottom quickly, trapping Saiga inside.

Giratina carefully lifted Zero off of her back, laying him beside her curled tail. He still didn't move. Ikazuchi drew his sword as he approached to get a closer look at the creature who had caused all of this trouble. Enkou followed as always, grunting softly, while Itazura strutted to the front of the group and lowered his head.

"Now that I can see him," the _basan_ remarked, "he looks young for a monster. All the same, there's something strange about him. His skill with Pokémon languages, for one thing. However despicable he is, I can understand why Queen Giratina didn't want him killed. That's a rare power he has. Pity it wasn't put to a better use," he spat with contempt, scratching the dirt.

Ikazuchi leaned in, drawing his sword. "So, then, Your Majesty, what do you suggest doing with him? I'll run him through if you'd like."

"No," Giratina told him sternly. "Whatever he has done and tried to do, we mustn't harm him."

Zero groaned slightly, trembled, and leaned against Giratina's body as he slowly woke up. The first thing he saw was an enormous red-scuted creature, its underbelly lit as if on fire, its narrowed yellow eyes glaring at him. Choking back a scream, he stood up just as Captain Ikazuchi used a clawed hand to restrain him.

"You tried to murder our queen. Consider yourself a prisoner while we decide what do do with you."

"Fine," Zero cried out, clearly very frightened at the sight of the Groudon demon, "but don't eat me! I didn't know she was your queen!"

Dialga came in to land in front of Giratina, Palkia following, both of them furious. Gohan and Shida, sensing trouble, got off of them and joined Giratina's group. "There you are," snarled the Spatial Spirit, his hand beginning to glow an intense pink. "Stand aside, Renegade. We are going to put the human to death. It will be relatively painless, which is merciful considering what he put us through. One Spacial Rend should do the trick."

In an instant Giratina confronted the two, her amorphous wings spread to their greatest breadth. Judging from his expression, Zero was stunned that the Pokémon that he had pursued and tormented was protecting him, but was prudent enough not to complain. Shaymin, too, was surprised, but remembered that Giratina was defensive of living things - including, it seemed, the life of her enemy. Dialga stamped his foot, infuriated.

"Renegade, do you understand? This human violated the natural order, an unforgivable crime. Execution is the only suitable punishment."

"I do not believe in killing without due cause. Zero is harmless now, and I believe he should be given a chance to redeem himself. There are better ways to deal with humans of this kind than through execution. Let him live. Perhaps we can teach him respect for the spirits."

"She's making a lot of sense," Zero remarked, but was silenced by a glare from Dialga. Shaymin thought that the knowledge that his life was at stake would be enough to keep him quiet, but his fear seemed to make him talk more. The little king, although he knew of the evil that Zero and Saiga had done, couldn't help but feel a little sorry for the human. Saiga's treachery had almost destroyed him. His arrogance was gone, replaced by fear and weakness.

Palkia swiped Ikazuchi aside with his tail, confronting Giratina. "What do you propose we do with him, then?"

"Wait... you _aren't_ going to kill me, then? After everything, you're going to let me..."

Giratina gave a firm nod, folding her wings. "Zero, I am willing to make a bargain with you. My brothers and I will spare your life in spite of your crimes, and in return you must pledge yourself to my service until that life debt is repaid." With a brief spell, Giratina created a paper contract out of shadow, along with a pen. "As my servant, you will help find and confront the evil that I have chosen to fight against. In exchange, Dialga and Palkia will allow you to live. I must add a warning. Contractual magic is very powerful. If you sign, you will be bound to the promise you have made, and those who break such contracts before they have run their course die."

Ryuu agreed, flying over to stand beside Giratina. "He would not be the first of his kind to overcome his demons."

This was a clever move, Shaymin thought. If Giratina was able to get Zero to sign, the terms of Giratina's deal would prevent him from betraying them, and his possibly useful qualities, such as his skills as an inventor, could be used to their benefit. He could even be healed of whatever had twisted him into the obsessed madman that Giratina and Palkia had met.

Palkia hissed in frustration, standing beside his brother, both of them clearly disagreeing with Giratina's decision. Shaymin had known her long enough to guess that she didn't care. She was going to free this human from his obsession, to cure him, save him. The Demon Queen was truly kind and merciful if she could feel sympathy for a creature like Zero.

Zero answered slowly, his voice quiet. "I have nothing left. Infi is gone. Saiga is gone. My machines are in broken pieces on the lake bottom, like my dreams of ruling the Reverse World. My life is all there is that I can call mine. Very well, then. If the choice is between being a servant and being dead, I'll sign." He took the pen from Giratina, read over the contract, and signed his name. She immediately cloaked the paper in darkness.

"From this day forward until your atonement is complete, you are one of my servants and agents within the worlds. A kind of spy, if you will."

"So, the psychotic researcher has become our new workmate," chittered Itazura, striding out from behind Ikazuchi. Zero stared at him, more confused than alarmed, as if only then mentally registering that he had shared his battlecraft with such a creature.

"All right. Why is _that_ here?" he asked dryly. "Are you absolutely sure I'm not dead?"

"The proper word," Itazura replied, smoke streaming from his beak, "is _basan_. I am one of Lady Giratina's servants, like you are now." He spread out his wings to indicate Enkou and Ikazuchi, who still held their weapons. "These are Groudon demons, Ikazuchi and Enkou, who used to work as palace guards."

Ikazuchi was still suspicious, Enkou following his lead, both of them holding their weapons. "How do we know that he didn't stir up the trouble between Dialga and Palkia, to make them easier to capture?" the captain asked his queen.

Giratina shook her head, instructing the guards to put away their swords. "I believe that is the one thing he is innocent of. He didn't have the technology to do it. He took advantage of the situation, yes, but he probably didn't know about it, and certainly didn't cause it."

Zero suddenly looked up, trying to ignore the malevolent glowering of the angry Groudon demons. "What about Dialga and Palkia? Something's wrong with them?"

"Something drove them insane," Shaymin explained as best he could. "Giratina's been trying to figure out what did it. You were a massive setback, and now we're lost."

"If we keep moving," Gohan told him, "we're bound to hit civilization sooner or later. We just have to keep our new teammate from getting into mischief, if Giratina insists that we take him with us. Regigigas can't be far away, either."

"It's good to feel welcome, isn't it?" Zero muttered to himself as he got up. This was the first time he had touched the ground in many years, and he walked cautiously, as if unused to solid land. "At least Saiga was my friend, up until he tried to have me murdered by my own robot maid. I'm sorry I ever invented Infi. Now that she's gone, I'll never know what caused her to go rogue like that."

Shaymin dove down to join him. "If General Saiga was your only friend, I think you need some better ones." Thinking for a moment, the King of the Hana Sekai added, "And now that you're rejoining civilized society, you need to lose the Giratina suit. It looks like a joke. No one will take you seriously."

While Zero's reply was a testy "Watch it, I designed this jumpsuit myself," it was clear that he recognized Shaymin's point, which the Flower King showed with a smug grin. Being separated from his Magnezone sidekick and losing his technology seemed to have calmed the scientist down considerably.

"Stop arguing, you two."

Ryuu came to the front after ordering the two to be quiet. Shida stood beside him, the Grovyle explorer stating, "I don't think we're in Hoenn anymore. Pity there aren't any wild Pokémon around to ask where we are. They must've been scared away by the crash. We'll have to go through the forest to find someone who can tell us, or Regigigas if he went up ahead."

"I think he did," Ryuu realized. "I saw him heading north when Shaymin and I were flying from the ship. If we follow him, I think we'll find some help."

The strange procession picked its way through the new forest, Giratina, Shaymin, and Ryuu leading the way. Zero was beside Ryuu, presumably to avoid Dialga and Palkia, who were still glaring at him murderously, and partly because he was unsure exactly how much protection his bargain with Giratina would provide. He had earlier asked if he could get on Giratina's back like Itazura and Shida, but the two rebuffed him. The _basan_ explained that he was too distrusted by the group and that they needed to keep an eye on him. Gohan, leading the two Groudon demon guards, walked ahead of the other High Spirits.

As he flew, Shaymin noticed that the gaps between the trees were widening, eventually disappearing into shrubs and bushes as the forest became a grassy valley. He realized with a start exactly where he was - he had been here before. It looked like, despite everything, he wasn't going to miss the Flower Bearing ceremony after all.

"Giratina," he told the gray dragon, "I think I know where the ship crashed. This is the sacred Gracidea Valley of Sinnoh!"


	12. Rulers of the Ice

**Giratina and the Heavenly War**

Chapter 12: Rulers of the Ice

On discovering that, in fact, he would not miss his Flower Bearing ceremony, Shaymin cheered up considerably, taking it on himself to cheer up the group. As he saw it, it was just in time, too, since he had lost his Gracidea flower behind in the Forina cabin after the battle with Hibana and General Saiga. He flew around the valley, sniffing flowers and making daring loops. Ryuu and Gohan, far from their home in Hoenn, watched him, Ryuu spreading his own wings. Although not Forina, the Gracidea valley reminded the Flygon of home. Gohan, meanwhile, focused on the journey. He was tired from the long walk and wanted to rest. As far as the Absol was concerned, he had seen too many adventures, and his main concern was making it to wherever Giratina wanted to go.

Not everyone shared Shaymin's enthusiasm. Ikazuchi and Enkou were exhausted, Ikazuchi remarking that even their slimy bodies couldn't take much more of this. Enkou only managed a weary groan. Itazura swaggered past them, his brown, feathery chest puffed out with pride. The younger Groudon demon growled, eager to keep his pace. Shida ran alongside him energetically, almost bounding on her powerful, scaly legs, nimble on her feet even for a Grovyle. She called back to them to tell them to hurry up.

"We're trying, Shida," Ikazuchi barked, claws touching the ground. "Not all of us are as light as you are."

Dialga and Palkia, self-conscious of how demeaning it was for two ancient, godlike dragon spirits to be seen in a flower garden, had conveniently disappeared to check on the state of things with General K and Pinku in their own dimensions. This considerably loosened up the situation for other members of the party. Without the threat of execution hanging over his head, Zero began to strike up a slightly awkward conversation with Giratina.

"So, Giratina. Why exactly did you decide to spare my life? I tried to murder you."

Giratina turned as she walked, fixing him with her calm red eyes, seeing him tremble. "Because I wanted to help you, and I felt that Dialga and Palkia were just as wrong as you were in killing. You have knowledge that I must have forgotten in my years as queen of the spirit world. If you are right, my true home is another world entirely. With you alive, you can tell me more about my true role as a High Spirit. That would explain why I could stand up against Dialga and Palkia in battle."

Zero thought for a moment. "The legends had little to say about you. They only said that you lived in a world opposite ours, and that you were banished for some sort of crime. They didn't say exactly what it was. However, I do know that you are a High Spirit like Dialga and Palkia and that you have control over the Reverse World."

Shaymin dove, deeply enjoying flight, and buzzed him before perching atop the Demon Queen's head. "Giratina said that you were some kind of researcher. What did you study?"

"Ah!" This question perked Zero up, and for the first time since he had come into Giratina's service he visibly cheered up. "I'm what is called an extraterralogist. Extraterralogy is a relatively new science that involves the concept of alternate universes outside of this one. You see, there's a film called the Border which usually prevents passage between universes, keeping the worlds apart. Because of this, extraterralogy is mostly a theoretical science, and it isn't taken seriously by most of this world's scientists. However, I did what no one else before or since has done. I broke the Border through artificial means and visited another world - the Reverse World of folklore."

Giratina added, "Dialga, Palkia, and I have the natural ability to create dimensional holes and enter other worlds at will. However, I have never heard of humans, at least in this world, using a similar method. I hope you didn't have to drain someone to manage it."

"For your information, I didn't. That trip was done through a finalized model of the machine which worked through electrical power cells, not life force. The designs for that version were lost, so I had to use a cruder prototype instead. I suppose I'll have to try and rebuild the newer model now."

"That's a relief," muttered Gohan sarcastically. "We're working alongside an _attempted_ murderer, not an _actual_ murderer. That makes me feel much more comfortable around you."

"What was the Reverse World like?" Ikazuchi asked cautiously, walking on the other side of Giratina with his brother.

Zero sighed, thinking back. "It's beautiful. There's no other word to describe it. A strange sort of beauty to be sure, alien, and the air is purer than any found here. I don't remember it very well myself, but if we ever go there you'll see why I wanted to come back. Maybe," he added hopefully, "we can pay it a visit after we're finished saving the world."

"Considering the effect it had on you," Gohan remarked with a snort, "I don't think so."

Giratina looked away, her voice quiet. "That's the curse of that kind of science. Once you start entering other worlds, you start losing your sense of connection with your own. I suppose that you're looking for a world to belong to, Zero."

The human agreed, his expression almost sad. "I felt at home in the Reverse World. Once I came back, I saw how ruined this world is - filth in the seas, pollution in the air - and I wanted no part of it. I have no place here. This isn't my world. Not anymore."

"Oh, come off of it," Shaymin told him from his perch on Giratina's head. "Hiding from the evil in the world won't get rid of it. It has to be fought. This isn't a ruined world, as the Elementals have managed to hold back the worst of the damage, unlike many worlds which have no spirits guarding them and are the worse off for it. There's plenty of beauty left here. Look at the flower garden!"

Ryuu swept ahead, his wings briefly blocking out the sun before he landed in front of the group and pointed into the distance with a claw, where Shaymin saw a group of bulky, furry figures moving in their direction. "Well, it looks like we aren't alone after all," the Flygon announced.

Ikazuchi gave a delighted roar, Enkou joining him. "We're saved!" Itazura spat a stream of blue fire into the air as a signal asking for help. As the figures approached, Shaymin recognized them as Mamoswine, huge brown tusked Pokémon that lived in cold climates, distinguishable by the blue masks around their eyes. Sure enough, up ahead there was an enormous glacier and a large lake, where a variety of wild Pokémon were gathered, all familiar breeds to Shaymin: Aron, Aggron, Stantler, Furret, Sentret, Teddiursa, Ursaring, Snover, Abomasnow, and a Froslass who was the leader of the group. At the back was a hulking giant which Shaymin knew at once.

"Regigigas!" he cried in joy on seeing his old friend. Regigigas raised an arm in greeting.

The Mamoswine came closer, the largest of them walking ahead of its companions, facing Giratina and giving a brief bow. "Hello, Lady Giratina. I am Shimo, king of the Mamoswine of Gracidea, and I bid you and your companions welcome. We heard the crash and were about to send some of our best out to search for survivors. Regigigas told me that there was no need."

"You know Regigigas?" asked Captain Ikazuchi, confused, as the Lord of the Regal Ones lumbered over with the Froslass at his side. Regigigas's true eyes flashed a short pattern before he answered the guard captain.

"Yes. King Shimo is an old friend of mine. He rules over the Snow Warriors of the Toushou Glacier, protectors of the sacred flower garden." The Froslass approached and bowed herself. "This is his second-in-command, Yuki."

Yuki gestured to the glacier. "Shimo's family has been here for hundreds of years, guarding the Gracidea flowers and the village further down the valley from the glacier in case it ever moves. We call ourselves the Snow Warriors, since we are masters of the ice. And who are the rest of you? You are outsiders to the valley, as far as I can tell."

Giratina chose to speak as representative of her group, offering a claw in greeting to the Froslass before introducing her companions in turn. "I am Giratina, queen of the spirit world. Ikazuchi is my Captain of the Guards, and Enkou is his brother, while Itazura the _basan_ is one of my servants. Ryuu, Gohan, and Shida are from Hoenn. Ryuu and Gohan protect the valley of Forina while Shida is an explorer."

"And I'm Shaymin," the little nature spirit cut in, happily circling King Shimo's head. "Ruler of the Hana Sekai and King of Flowers. Pleased to be of service, Your Majesty."

"Ah, yes, Shaymin. We were wondering when you would come for the Flower Bearing. It's due for tomorrow, and you arrived right on time, I must say. Oh? And who would this be?" The Mamoswine king looked down to see Zero, who was standing beside Giratina and clearly very annoyed at being left out.

"This is Zero," explained the Demon Queen, indicating her new servant with a claw. "He was the pilot of the ship that crashed in the forest, and I accepted him into my service as a punishment for attempting to break the laws of nature. We are hoping that some good can be done with him, as he knows the language of Pokémon and is very clever with machines."

Gohan snorted, and Zero glowered at him. "We aren't holding our breaths, though."

Regigigas's true eyes flickered again in surprise on seeing the former leader of the Jishaku Imperium. "I see you survived the crash, too."

"Giratina saved my life," Zero told him, seeming uncharacteristically meek. "It was more than I deserved."

Yuki scurried back to the Snow Warriors at the lakeside as Shimo and Regigigas led Giratina and her group along with them. Shaymin's green crest flattened with the cold. He hated ice as much as darkness, and like darkness it would rob him of his Sky Forme if he made physical contact with it. He decided to stay as far away from the Toushou Glacier as he possibly could. Instead, he dove to join Shimo, hovering beside Regigigas. The Lord of the Regal Ones stood to his full, imposing height, only Giratina outmatching him. The others assembled before the glacier, trying not to notice the cold in the air.

"I am pleased to see," Regigigas began, "that we have made it back to dry land and reorganized. However, our work isn't done yet. The evil which took over the minds of Dialga and Palkia is still at large. While the Jishaku Imperium was dealt with, Saiga and Zero were not responsible for the loss of their sanity. Something else is causing the trouble, and the hunt will not be called off until the real cause behind the war in heaven is tracked down and dealt with. In the meantime, Shimo and I have decided that it would be a fine idea to allow a rest period. Shaymin must carry out his Flower Bearing ceremony tomorrow."

Itazura turned up his head to get a better look at Shaymin. "What is Flower Bearing?"

"You'll all see," replied the King of Flowers with a sly grin. "I won't give anything away. You all are going to see something very special. It looks like we'll be paying a visit to the town."

Ikazuchi, who until then had been wearily swinging his sword, immediately snapped to attention. "Town? There's a town close by?"

Shimo gave a soft chuckle. "Yes. A little further down in the valley there's a train station which leads to Ten'i Village. Ten'i is a quiet place, and very peaceful, but every year the mythical Pokémon spirit Shaymin comes to visit the town. If Gracidea flowers, Berries, and water are left out for him, he will grant the people of Ten'i good luck in return. It's an old story, but true enough. Shaymin hasn't missed a year yet, and it looks like he has come to visit the good folk of the valley again."

Gohan cringed in disgust as Ikazuchi yawned, showing his gaping, glowing throat. "I suppose we'll be paying a visit, then."

"Wait. Wait." Zero spoke for the first time since the assembly, trying to avoid the eyes of the Groudon demon. "Seeing the Flower Bearing ceremony in Ten'i is all very well. We need to go into town, we can agree on that. However, we need to send someone in who won't start a riot. Ikazuchi and Enkou may be very pleasant monsters, but I can't see them interacting with the townspeople. Giratina and Regigigas are out of the question."

The Pokémon and demons in the group exchanged glances as the problem sank in. Gohan sighed, settling back. "As much as I hate to admit it, I think he has a point there."

"That isn't a terrible problem, though," Ryuu told them, his tail curled against the ice. "Zero just volunteered, and being the spirit who'll carry out the Flower Bearing Shaymin can probably enter town without raising too much of a fuss. Shida can come, too - she can pretend to be Zero's Pokémon."

Ikazuchi nudged the extraterralogist slightly with one of his claws. "Looks like it's time for your first assignment as Queen Giratina's spy. You signed the contract, you can't refuse. Time to finally make yourself useful."

"So, what do the rest of us do?" asked Itazura, raising a wing. "Sit around beside the glacier and wait for Shaymin to finish the ceremony? That's a waste. I wanted to see the town."

"That can be arranged through a simple skinchange spell, if you insist," Giratina told the basan, raising a golden claw. "The magic will wear off in twenty-four hours, which should be more than enough for you to take the train to Ten'i and see the Flower Bearing." She lightly touched Itazura's chest, and as the group watched in amazement he began to glow a bright gold and change shape beneath the light. When the chicken demon emerged, he was a tall, middle-aged human with red hair that matched the color of his wattle and a jacket as brown as his feathers. He tried to spit flames from joy, but only managed a cough.

"Thanks," he muttered glumly, irritated by the loss of his powers. Enkou snickered, as if to say that the disguised _basan_ made a good-looking human. Itazura, mildly irritated by the Groudon demon, glared at him.

"As for me," Giratina explained, "I'll go and have a word with Ranpu and Captain Ryouken in the spirit world. Having some of my warriors search the worlds for this evil would be a fine idea. I'll be keeping an eye on you four, however, since I have power over mirrors." She slashed a hole into the sky with her claws and vanished inside in a moment, the hole shutting behind her almost at once.

"I will be meditating in a cavern close to Toushou Glacier," Regigigas rumbled, "to build up my strength. If we're going to be fighting a war, we need all of it that we can get."

Ryuu gave a roar of assent. "If Gohan and I may come with you, we will be pleased to. This is the first time that I have left Forina in years." Gohan grumbled, but the Absol agreed to accompany the dragon Pokémon to calm his nerves. He remarked that he needed a rest from battles and monsters for a while. Shimo stood before the remaining members of the band - the transformed Itazura, Shida, Shaymin, and Zero.

"You four will need directions to the town. It isn't far from here, but as I know you are strangers to Gracidea. Right now you are standing beside Toushou Glacier, which carved out the lake you are standing by thousands of years ago. We Snow Warriors are here to guard the Gracidea flower garden, which is sacred to Shaymin, the legendary Flower King."

"King?" Itazura seemed confused. "Can you explain that a bit? What are you king of?"

"The Hana Sekai, or Flower World. It's a world outside this one where I usually live. As king there, I collect flowers from across the universe to decorate it. Because I can't grow Gracidea flowers myself, I need to collect them from this world, and struck a deal with the people of Ten'i Village. In exchange for them providing me with a supply of flowers, I grant them good harvests and bring Gracidea flowers to the field. They'll be warming up for the ceremony in the town, I expect." Shaymin landed on Itazura's shoulder. "Unfortunately, with the war going on I can't return to the Hana Sekai. However, this is just as well, since the Gracidea will make a useful weapon in case we have to fight anything."

Shimo continued to describe the Gracidea landscape, but the King of Flowers wasn't listening very carefully. The sky was beginning to dim throughout the talk beside the glacier, and as it darkened Shaymin's body began to glow a bright gold again, clearing to reveal his original hedgehog-like form. He began to fall into the lake, but Ryuu, thinking quickly, darted forward and caught him on his back. In a nimble plunge he deposited the little king on the grass before taking off to rejoin Gohan. Shaymin thanked the Flygon graciously before requesting that the party head for the station.

"I can't fight so well without my Sky Forme," he explained, "and the Gracidea pollen wears off at night, forcing me back into my Land Forme. At least it didn't happen when something was attacking us." He sniffed the air before springing into Itazura's arms, curling up there. "That just means we have to head for the town quickly. The faster I regain my powers, the better. We've got a powerful evil to fight."

As Enkou and Ikazuchi went to join Shimo, the guard captain's cape trailing behind him, the remaining companions continued to talk. Itazura and Shida seemed willing enough, but Zero seemed very nervous about the whole concept of fighting in a war. Shaymin rolled his eyes. The human didn't seem so quick to fight without an army at his back and a Magnezone general doing most of the planning work.

"Oh, come on. This is easy work. Besides, by targeting Giratina and Palkia you chose to get yourself involved in the High Spirits' affairs. This is your war, too, whether you want to be in it or not." Shaymin turned and looked back at the glacier. "Can't say I'll be too sorry to leave Toushou behind, though. I don't like the cold."

After looking back at the gathered Snow Warriors, Yuki and King Shimo at the front, and the titanic glacier, Itazura gazed into the water and examined his new, human body. "I look ridiculous," he bemoaned, and Zero shot him a look. Shaymin, like Gohan earlier, saw his point. Being the only true human in the group of companions, and the only member who was there less than willingly, couldn't have been easy. All the same, a dose of humility was what he needed. Shaymin turned his attentions to the false human. The little king proudly shook his grassy quills in Itazura's arms, the _basan_ complaining that his new body seemed to have allergies.

"Farewell, Your Majesty," he managed to tell the Mamoswine king with a sniffle. "After the Flower Bearing takes place, we will return to Toushou Glacier to plan our next move. For the moment, we could use a bit of a break, if you ask me."

Shida nodded energetically. "I would have to agree with Shaymin. Thank you for providing us with directions to Ten'i."

Managing to look the transformed demon in the eye, Shaymin managed a cheerful smile, curling to expose his belly. "I wouldn't disagree with you there, Itazura. Now, then, shouldn't we stop talking and start heading to the station? I've got a Flower Bearing to take part in tomorrow morning."


	13. Journey to the Village

**Giratina and the Heavenly War**

Chapter 13: Journey to the Village

King Shimo gave very good directions, it turned out. Itazura, still irritated by the loss of his powers, had led the way, grumbling, as Shida walked alongside Zero, playing her assigned role as his Pokémon. Shaymin huddled in the transformed _basan_'s arms, already missing his Sky Forme. He was glad that he would have some time to rest during the journey. Anyway, he would be able to change again soon enough. A short visit to a local ticket booth was all it took. Now the four were standing outside of a train station heading for Ten'i Village, deeper into the valley and some distance from the Toushou Glacier. As they waited, Itazura and Zero began to have a short conversation about magic.

Shaymin listened, interested, one green eye open. He had spells of his own, mostly to do with plants - helping seeds grow, cleaning destroyed lands, and other things of that nature - but Giratina's magic seemed to be much more powerful than his. Even Dialga and Palkia couldn't change creatures' shape or enchant a signed contract as he had seen her do. Both humans were under an enchantment, but in different ways. Itazura's new body was nothing more than an illusion covering his true, much more alarming form. Zero still had his own shape, right down to the horrible Giratina costume, but was under a magical contract that punished oathbreakers with death, compelling him to obey his new queen, almost like an enchanted leash.

A humiliating situation, to be sure, Shaymin thought, but an appropriate punishment given the nature of his crimes, and more merciful than execution. At least this way he had the chance to atone for what he had done, if he chose to. At the moment, he seemed more interested in sulking and making sarcastic remarks toward Itazura, who was all too happy to pay him back in kind.

"Would you two be quiet?" had been Shida's only comment on the subject. "You two can't even pretend to get along, can you?" The Grovyle folded her arms impatiently, waiting for the train. She was, in turn, annoyed at having to pretend to be a human's pet, even if it was for a good cause. "Speaking as one of the most celebrated Pokémon explorers in Hoenn, I can't believe I'm doing this. There goes my dignity."

"You know," Shaymin told her sleepily, "some wild Pokémon join with humans willingly, judging from what I've heard."

"Yes, well," retorted Shida, "there are humans, and then there's the one we're stuck with. We have to drag him along just because Giratina didn't have the heart to let Palkia deal with him. He'll stab her in the back, mark my words. And now I have to act like his Pokémon. The only reason I agreed to this plan is out of my respect for Giratina. Nothing else."

"Technically," Shaymin reminded her in a whisper, "according to the terms of the contract he signed, he can't turn on Giratina. If he does, he'll die, and I don't think he's that dense."

Zero was staring at Itazura, as if working out how the chickenlike _basan_ had shapeshifted into a human being. "What is a skinchange spell, anyway? I didn't know that Giratina could work magic. Speaking as a scientist, until today I didn't even believe in that kind of thing."

"Then what were you thinking when you signed a magical contract? Those things aren't to be taken lightly. We in the spirit world take those kinds of oaths very seriously. Enkou and Ikazuchi signed one when they started working for Giratina - they were already peaceful, but she had them agree that they wouldn't use their life-sucking powers on living things. If one of those enchanted contracts is broken, you're killed on the spot." Itazura signed resignedly. "If you know what's good for you, human, you'll hold to your bargain."

Seeing how nervous Zero looked, Shaymin took pity on him. "Just don't try to kill us or run away and you'll be fine. After we've finished what we need you for, Zero, I'm sure Giratina will set you free."

"If I don't get killed or eaten first," the extraterralogist replied glumly, staring at the train tracks. "At least you admit that you hate me instead of plotting behind my back." He looked around anxiously, as if anticipating the rattle of metal and clatter of wheels of an incoming train. "So, tell me what a skinchange spell is."

Itazura clicked with his tongue, the closest he could come to clucking. "Giratina's magic comes from us spirits, for the most part. To thank her for teaching us how to live in peace with other worlds, we taught her some of our spells. One type of spell is skinchange magic, a kind of cloaking spell which allows her to change a living thing's shape. It's temporary, as nothing, not even magic, can change something's true nature. It can hide it for a while, however, like an illusion, but physical as well as visible." He shivered in the night air. "I miss my feathers already. They would be useful during a night like this. My wings, my fire, my claws..."

"Would you stop complaining?" Shaymin ordered the _basan_. "I'm trying to get some sleep before the train comes." He yawned, curling up in a fuzzy sphere. "An Elemental Spirit taking a train. What next?"

Zero added, "And some of us do just fine without feathers, if I may point that out. You can make it for twenty-four hours without them. "

Itazura looked at him curiously. "You humans have no sense of aesthetics. Look at yourselves for once. No natural covering at all - no feathers or fur, not even scales. If I were you, I'd ask Giratina to transform me into something else for a bit."

Guessing from the look he gave Itazura, Zero seemed offended, but never had the chance to speak a word, much to Shaymin's relief. They heard the sound of engines as the train finally arrived. Itazura, who had bought the tickets for himself and Zero at the station, led the way on board, striding as if he still had his own powerful legs. The people already on the train looked up from what they were doing, staring at the strange-looking new passengers. Shaymin groaned. He had hoped that they wouldn't draw attention to themselves.

Given his companions, however, that wasn't likely. Shida was savvy enough to stick to the plan, but between Itazura's dislike of his human body and Zero's tacky uniform the little group stuck out among the more ordinary-looking people.

Some spies you two are, Shaymin thought.

Trying to ignore the stares, Shida, in her role as Zero's Pokémon, guided them to a group of free seats in the middle of the train. She sat attentively at her "owner"'s side. For some time the four sat in awkward silence, ignoring the passengers opposite them, who were staring curiously. Zero seemed to be trying to ignore a young girl who was making fun of his uniform, his one visible eye widening when he saw a gray, dragonlike figure moving in the window.

"Look," he whispered to Shaymin and the others, gesturing to the thing, which spread out two wide black wings as they watched. "That's Giratina. She really is watching over us."

"Of course she is. Her own magic is in the area of mirrors; she can use them to travel between worlds and to keep an eye on things." Itazura folded his arms. "You really do have a lot to learn about the worlds, don't you?"

Shaymin wondered how Zero would react on seeing some of Giratina's other, stranger servants. He had taken it remarkably well, for a human, but then again he hadn't met the faceless women and gong-animals who lived and worked in the spirit world. Shaymin was immortal, well used to strange happenings in the Hana Sekai and the Pokémon world. Being a half-crazed extraterralogist would only help a little bit when confronted with such things. Then again, Zero did seem intensely afraid of Enkou and Ikazuchi, although to be fair Groudon demons were frightening creatures. Looking up from Itazura's grasp, the Lord of the Hana Sekai managed a brief, friendly bow to Giratina as she circled.

"Hello, then." One of the other passengers, a young brown-haired woman with a blue shirt, cautiously offered a hand to Itazura and introduced herself. "My name is Layla, and this is my husband, Moose." She indicated a sturdy young man with black hair and a sky-colored shirt, who nodded with a nervous smile. The other passengers watched cautiously as Shaymin emerged. A young boy with glasses grinned and pointed at the little Pokémon.

"Look! Look, Moose, it's the Flower Spirit Shaymin! He's here!" Moose noticed Shaymin, who cheerfully waved a paw.

"Well, I'll be," the man told his wife. "Shaymin's come on board the train with us." The children quickly gathered around Itazura, stroking Shaymin and patting his head. He smiled, the seeds on his back expanding into pink flowers.

"Who's Shaymin, Taka?" asked the little girl as she petted the King of Flowers, and a young boy in a brown vest began to explain the legend to her.

"Every year, the Pokémon Shaymin comes to our village to get Gracidea Flowers from us. If we leave him food and water along with the flowers, he'll help our crops grow as thanks. Didn't you see the work for the ceremony in town, Kako? Everyone's getting ready for the Flower Bearing."

"You know I didn't, Shun." The girl pouted, and the boy folded his arms.

"Oh, come on. Don't throw a fit."

A plump woman in a yellow-and-red plaid shirt took the shoulders of the two children. "Shun, Kako, calm down. Show Shaymin respect. He doesn't usually show himself to people. This is the first time anyone's seen him anywhere near Ten'i for years. He usually tries to avoid human eyes."

"Why'd he come out this year, then?" asked Taka.

"Yeah, why, Ohin?" chorused Kako and Shun in unison.

"Because I'm interested in seeing the ceremony that you humans have put up in my name," replied Shaymin, using telepathy so that the humans would be able to understand him when he spoke. "The red-haired man, Itazura, is my faithful guardian." Itazura bowed in response, and Taka laughed.

"The little thing talks! Listen, it just talked!"

Shaymin flipped over lazily, letting Taka scratch his belly, and winked to Shida. "What can I say? People love me."

"And who is the man in the silly costume?" Shun asked, innocently pointing to Zero. The researcher looked very embarrassed, muttering under his breath that the first thing he'd do in town is find a set of clean clothes. At least, Shaymin thought, he didn't have to explain that the stupid outfit was part of a very unhealthy obsession with one of the High Spirits.

"Oh. Him." Itazura took over, his voice confident and persuasive. "He's just a trainer who travelled to the station with us. I don't know anything about him, and can't answer as to his fashion sense, which is sadly lacking. This is his Grovyle." Shida gave a happy growl, knowing that these humans couldn't understand her speech, and hopped onto the chair.

Shaymin wondered why the other passengers hadn't seen Giratina swooping in the window, but she probably had some sort of cloaking abllities to hide from prying eyes. The Demon Queen was certainly a very powerful Pokémon spirit. He decided to simply enjoy the group of human children playing with his fur and ruffling it. He would have to groom himself later, of course, but for now he could have a little bit of rest. Layla and Moose watched over them benevolently.

"So, then," Moose asked Zero, who was startled by the question. "What brings you to Gracidea and Ten'i Village? Have you come to see the Flower Gathering, too?"

"In a way, yes." Zero shrugged, looking back at the others. "It's a bit of a long story."

Layla gave a warm smile. "Well, then, allow me to welcome all of you to Ten'i Village ahead of time. As for Moose and I, we came to see the Flower Bearing. Moose says that he saw Shaymin once as a young boy, taking Berries and a flower that had been left out for the spirit. I believed him, but we never thought we would be honored to see Shaymin himself visit us!"

"Well," Shaymin remarked telepathically, "these are strange times, Layla. Thank you for your kind welcome. I assume that you, Moose, and the others will be attending the ceremony, then?""

"Of course we are!" Layla answered. "There's going to be a Shaymin Celebration Festival in Ten'i to celebrate your visit. Games, food, everything. It's one of the biggest events in this area of Sinnoh, and maybe even the whole region. Your friends arrived at just the right time to come themselves. It's a lot of fun, and outsiders are welcome to join the celebration."

Itazura smiled, hoping that he could attend the festival before Giratina's spell wore off. A giant fire-breathing chicken demon would be a much less welcome visitor to Ten'i. "I hope I'll enjoy it. We'll keep your recommendation in mind."

Shida smiled slyly, remarking to Zero, "That does sound interesting. We'll have to take a look, then, before getting back to work on tracking down the evil which tormented Dialga and Palkia."

"To be honest with you," the extraterralogist remarked as he leaned back in his seat, "I'm not in a hurry to see those two again. I seem to remember threats of a slow and painful death made towards me. I can wait to deal with Dialga and Palkia, indeed."

"So can the rest of us," Shida sighed. "At least we can agree on something." Zero nodded glumly, but didn't speak again, instead staring out the window as if daydreaming.

Shun gave a cheeky smile as Kako stroked the relaxing Lord of the Hana Sekai. "You sure do meet interesting people on the way to town."

Itazura grinned, warming to the children despite himself. "We'll be in town tomorrow to see the Flower Bearing, so you'll probably be seeing us again."

"We're here to give a Gracidea bouquet to my great-grandmother who lives in Ten'i," explained Layla, "so we'll be there for the next few days."

"It's always nice to meet new people," added Moose with a kind smile. "The people of Ten'i are very welcoming to strangers, from what I've heard. You shouldn't have any trouble fitting in there."

Shun winked at Itazura and Zero. "And there isn't much stranger than you two!"

"Watch it," snapped Zero, although he didn't look back from the window. Shun, far from frightened, laughed at the extraterralogist's snooty posturing and imitated it, to the amusement of Kako and Taka as Ohin watched benevolently. Zero, rather irritated at being seen as a target of mockery, scrunched up against the wall as if hoping to disappear into it. He gave Shaymin a brief pleading look, as if asking for sympathy.

Shaymin, fluffing up his quills, used his true voice so that only Zero could understand him. "Well, well, well. How the mighty have fallen."

The extraterralogist quickly gave him a look and muttered a reply that oozed with sarcasm. "You're a real help, Shaymin. You know that, right?"

"You have to admit, that costume does look ridiculous." Shaymin gave a wink in reply before returning to his telepathic voice to speak with the children, springing down onto a cushioned seat.

"To tell all of you the truth, I'm rather interested in seeing this Celebration Festival of yours. To be honest, I never knew that my visits were so appreciated. Would you mind if my companions and I came to visit? We've been travelling for a long way."

"We would be honored," replied Moose. "There's an inn in town from what I've heard, which might work for your human friends. You can get some food there and clean clothes if you need them."

"All right, all right, I _get_ it," Zero remarked, frustrated, finally glancing over from his hunched position at the edge of the seat. "My jumpsuit looks stupid. I'll fix it. Now stop teasing me about it."

Itazura leaned back, smiling smugly. "Glad you realize that. I'll help you pick out something a little less, shall we say, attention-grabbing." The disguised _basan_ faced Shaymin, who had climbed into Ohin's arms as the children gathered around them. "Shaymin, you are such a show-off."

The King of Flowers looked up innocently, blinking. "What? Can I help it that I'm small and cute and that people love me?" He gave instructions to the gathering children. "A little farther back, Kako, just behind the quills. That's right."

Shida sighed and sprang to join Zero, clearly annoyed that she wasn't of the small or cute persuasion. She rubbed her claws together as she watched Shaymin and the children. "The sooner that we get the Flower Bearing out of the way and get back on the road, the better. We have a universe to save, and there's no time to wait around."

"Oh, come on, Shida, don't be a deadbeat," Shaymin remarked to her in his real voice. "We can have a day in which we don't worry about the worlds being destroyed. I hope you don't stay this way during the ceremony."

Layla had watched the goings-on with good humor, Moose at her side. The young woman rummaged in a brown knapsack, producing a slightly crumpled map and handing it to Itazura. The _basan_ carefully unrolled it, Shaymin hopping down to join him. It was of the entire valley, staring with the vast white form of the Toushou Glacier at the top and leading to a blue line marking a river and a series of towns. One of these towns was marked **Ten'i Village** in bold red font. It was fairly deep into the valley, but not as far as some of the others.

Itazura tapped the black spot marking the town's location with a finger, unfurling it for the benefit of Shida and Zero. "That's where we have to go, then. Only a couple more towns left to go through before we reach Ten'i. It'll be an hour or two before we get there, as there are large gaps between stops."

Moose held out a hand, and Itazura returned the map, letting the young man put it away. He settled back in his seat, quickly joined by Shaymin, who yawned in boredom. Apparently celebrity had tired the little Elemental spirit out, as he left the children who had crowded him earlier behind. Itazura held the little king, who promptly fell asleep in his arms, exhausted.

"Aww," chorused the trio, and one of Shaymin's eyes flickered open for a brief moment. "I need to be in good shape for the Flower Bearing tomorrow," he explained telepathically, "and because of that I could use a bit of a sleep. Entertain yourselves some other way." The children returned to their seats, a little sad but still excited, judging from their twitching. Layla was saying something to Taka, who was practically jumping up and down. Kako and Shun were grinning at one another as they sat beside Ohin, barely able to sit still. The little king had to admire the spirit of the children. If only more humans were like that, he thought to himself. If they were, this world wouldn't have half as many problems.

Still deeply enjoying himself and excited for the next day's ceremony, Shaymin curled up and fell asleep in Itazura's arms, this time without interruptions from his companions or the other passengers.


	14. Flower Bearing

**Giratina and the Heavenly War**

Chapter 14: Flower Bearing

When Shaymin woke up, he found himself in a small, comfortable bed, inside a darkened room. He instinctively got up to explore his surroundings. It seemed pleasant enough, with a wooden floor, a small, slightly open pot filled with vegetable stew, and a set of windows that were opened to the air, letting sunlight inside and refreshing the little Pokémon spirit's energy. Filled with vitality, his powers returning with the day, he jumped out of the bed and trotted over to the stewpot, which he assumed contained his breakfast. He pushed the lid over with his snout and breathed in the delicious scent. He began to drink, careful not to slip. Even though he was immortal and as such difficult to harm, that would be a bad start for the day.

After a few sips, it occurred to Shaymin that he wasn't on the train heading to Ten'i Village. Presumably he was in town - he remembered the inn that Moose had described. Itazura must have taken him there to rest for the Flower Gathering. Shaymin started, almost toppling headfirst into the steaming pot. The Flower Bearing ceremony! It was today! He sprang down, realizing that he had to hurry. By the Original One, he had almost forgotten! He scurried to the door, rapping on it with one paw, cursing his lack of proper hands.

"Hey!" he cried out telepathically, hoping that someone in the hallway would hear him. "Somebody, open up! Couldn't you have left it open or something? Itazura, where are you? Help me!"

He growled, wondering why Itazura wasn't there to open it for him. Weren't they supposed to be working as a team? What was the point if his so-called allies were going to run off without him, anyway?

"Come on, already! Has everyone forgotten about the Flower Bearing ritual?" Shaymin rammed against the door, beating it with his paws as hard as he could in spite of his small size. As he did, the door suddenly opened, and the Flower King stumbled and fell at the feet of a human. "Finally, Itazura, it took you long enough -" He squinted, getting a better look at his visitor. "You're not Itazura."

"Well, it took long enough for you to figure that out," the human retorted. It was Zero, but he looked different. The awful Giratina jumpsuit was gone, replaced by a far more modest blue shirt and jeans, and both golden eyes were now visible. "Itazura isn't far away, but he's worried that he might change back into his true form in public and expose us, so he sent me to get you instead."

"What happened to your uniform?" Shaymin asked, although to be frank he didn't miss it. Zero's new clothes were much easier on the eyes, and now he might be able to go into public without drawing attention to himself. "You look much better, may I add."

Zero sighed, shuffling in place. "Some of the people at the inn felt sorry for me and gave me some fresh clothes." He pulled his jacket closer and turned, gesturing for Shaymin to follow him. "Now, come on. The festival's starting soon and we have to meet up with Itazura."

"I must say, though," Shaymin remarked as he followed the extraterralogist through the inn's hallways, "that your change of clothes is appropriate. You're a changing man now. At the very least people will be able to look at you without laughing."

His companion thought for a moment. "I have to admit, that thing did look stupid at a second glance." He shivered briefly, although Shaymin knew that the day was warm. "I can't believe I was that delusional. I could've destroyed everything, including myself. Getting rid of that thing is the start of the deprogramming process, I assume?"

"If you want to put it that way," replied Shaymin. "And yes, Giratina says you really were _that_ delusional. Saiga, on the other hand, was just evil. In some ways, he was even more psychotic and creepy than you were. His powers of persuasion, for one thing. Just what _did_ he promise you?"

Zero leaned against the wooden wall, remembering long before the Jishaku Imperium. "Saiga knew that I feel very strongly about Pokémon and their well-being, since my family has had the ability to talk to them for generations. He told me that humans were cruel to Pokémon, telling terrible stories of Pokémon species practically driven to extinction by people, like Lapras and Farfetch'd. We - or rather I, as Saiga was probably secretly out for himself even then - thought that the best way to solve the problem was to set up a colony in the Reverse World, a haven free of pollution and abuse to Pokémon."

Shaymin replied, "I've heard those same stories, and I agree that they are not representative of humanity's better side. However, I must remind you that not all humans are bad, and many of them do try to help as much as the Pokémon spirits in keeping this world clean and free. There's a reason that the two species that you named aren't extinct. Running away and hiding in another world won't solve the problems in this one." He sat up, sniffing the air, faintly catching the scent of Gracidea flowers. "And abducting and killing High Spirits is forbidden, for any reason, no matter how well-intended. See what your good intentions did to you - Saiga's two-legged, crazed pet, running machinery for him, eventually to be disposed of."

"Yes," Zero hissed faintly. "I couldn't have seen it then, but what Saiga and I almost did was unforgivable. I don't belong in any world."

Shaymin strode toward the door, snout held high. "Oh, snap out of it. You still don't understand why this world worth living in, despite all of its problems. Everything in the universe, every world, every living creature, has its place, yes, even you, Zero. You can stay in the past or try and make up for what you did to Giratina. She clearly sees some good in you, or she would have let Palkia kill you. Now, come on. I'll show you why life is worth living."

As the two emerged, blinking, into the sunlight, Itazura, still in his human form, popped out with a greeting, Shida at his side. The Grovyle casually leaned against a wall, smiling gently. Shaymin saw wooden buildings, paved streets, and a dock close to the riverside. Ten'i was an old town, its people placing great importance on preserving the land and its resources, partly to maintain the Flower Spirit's favor. It was known that Shaymin would only visit clean lands.

"Well, then," Shida drawled, drawing Shaymin's attention away, "it looks like it's your turn to be the star of the show, eh, Your Majesty?" Shaymin nodded, staring out to see. The sky was clear and blue, distant boats gleaming in the light. It looked like, for a while, the war could be forgotten and the four companions could enjoy a little peace. As for more practical matters, Shaymin could regain his Sky Forme, which he needed to enhance his powers enough to be properly helpful. As his Sky Forme, besides his improved fighting abilities, all of his magic was enhanced, meaning that he could absorb and purify much more pollution than his Land Forme could.

He yawned, sitting on his back paws and showing his belly as he had on the train. "If you ask me, I wouldn't mind visiting that Shaymin festival that Layla and Moose were talking about. Maybe they'll be there already and we can talk to them again. They were nice people. See, Itazura, some humans are all right."

"About time we met some of the nicer ones," replied the _basan, _seeming very anxious. "Look, if I go to the festival, I need you people to let me know if anything strange happens. You know, if I start sprouting feathers or anything. I have no idea when Giratina's spell is supposed to wear off, and I don't want us chased out of Ten'i." When the others agreed, he calmed down, but only a little, constantly checking his arms for developing brown feathers. Shaymin shook himself, finally looking away from the beautiful landscape which had entranced him.

"All right, then. If you start to change back, make it to the forest or an empty building where no one can see you, or go to the river where you can call for Giratina." He began to set off, jerking his snout to ask the other three to follow him. Shida led as Zero and Itazura reluctantly followed, Itazura still stepping cautiously in case he heard the clicking of black claws.

As it turned out, the Shaymin Celebration Festival was something a little different from what they had been expecting. It was a sort of fair, filled with games, children running around and chasing one another, and stalls offering a variety of Shaymin merchandise. The little king sniffed in distaste, nevertheless, asking Itazura to put him on one of the stalls so that he could get a better look. He landed squarely on the wood, sitting up. The startled owner stared at him, eyes wide. Shaymin bowed to her, trying to calm her, before he examined the stall's offerings.

There were books leaning on hastily set shelves with titles like _Does Shaymin Exist?: Sightings Throughout Sinnoh's History,_ a slender children's title called _The Story of Shaymin_, and _A Cultural Study of the Folklore and Customs of Ten'i Village and Surrounding Territories: Flower Bearing and Other Traditions. _The last book was an extremely thick one that even a human would struggle with. Shaymin stared admiringly at them, impressed that a relatively weak Elemental spirit like him could inspire such devotion and study. Besides the books, there were toys of all different sizes and types. Beside Shaymin was a plush version of himself matching him almost exactly in size and appearance, except, of course, for the red button on its belly.

He pressed it, curious, and the toy said "_Desu_," startling him and making him briefly jump back in fright. He looked to Itazura with a sheepish smile. "Whatever else humans are, they're certainly clever inventors." He poked the button again, this time laughing. "That's a good toy you have here," he told the owner telepathically. She stared at him, clearly unnerved by the spirit's presence, but honoring him by staying put. Not wanting to terrify the human any more, he sprang back to Itazura, waving to her.

"Please," Zero remarked to him, "there's such a thing as being subtle." Shaymin fluffed his quills self-importantly.

"There's no need to worry about that. This is the one town in Sinnoh where I'm practically worshipped. This is my territory. Dialga and Palkia may have the rest of this universe under their rule, but I am the master of this valley as I am lord of the Hana Sekai."

"Show-off," muttered Shida as she walked alongside her "master", only partly joking. She was anxious to return to their quest. "Need I remind all of you that the universe is in danger. Every second we spend partying gives whatever we're up against another second to regain a hold on Dialga and Palkia. And, Zero, if you thought they were frightening when they're sane, when they're mad they're infinitely worse."

Zero straightened, clearly affected, his eyes again wide and terrified. "I hate those two monsters. They wanted to kill me - I never want to see them again."

"You will," Shida told him, as distressed as the extraterralogist while trying not to show it. "I wish we wouldn't, but we will."

"Come on, you two, cheer up," Shaymin instructed them in his real voice. "We can go back to the war after the Celebration Festival and sort out that issue then. For now, you two need to enjoy yourselves. Especially you, Zero. If the people of Ten'i knew about the danger that they are all in, it would be too much for them. It would be better if we finished the Flower Gathering quickly and returned to our mission, for everyone concerned."

Itazura nodded. "Besides, every minute I spend here is a minute I could change back into a _basan_. We have to hurry. The Celebration Festival is fun, granted, but I have a feeling that my true form won't be so welcome here." Shaymin cringed, knowing that the chicken demon was probably right. The last thing that they needed was to be run out of the village by an angry mob.

"Hey! There you are! We were wondering where you three were." The King of Flowers loocked up to see Layla some feet away beside another stand, Moose with her and carrying a bouquet of yellow flowers. "Looking around at the festival?"

Shaymin replied with his telepathy. "I am very honored by the respect shown to me by Ten'i's people. I'll be collecting the Gracidea flower that I need and be on my way. Tell your fellow villagers that Shaymin will be blessing them with good harvests this year. Part of my power comes from the gratitude that people feel and the respect that they show for the spirits. You and your husband have treated us with kindness, and will be rewarded for it."

"Glad to hear it, Shaymin," Moose replied, although he was obviously confused. Then again, when he had met Shaymin before he hadn't known that the little creature could talk. Humans tended to not react well to being shown the full power of the Pokémon spirits, and Shaymin could only imagine how Moose would react to a being like Dialga and Palkia, or even their forgotten sister. Even though Giratina was the only one of the three High Spirits who did not hate human beings, her appearance wasn't exactly welcoming. Shaymin flussed his quills to calm the man down, offering his cutest smile. Being a small, cute Lesser Spirit had its advantages.

Layla put a hand on Moose's shoulder, drawing his attention away from Shaymin. "We'll come with you to the Flower Gathering festival, then. It's been a while since we've seen one."

"Thank you," remarked Itazura, still a little jumpy. "We should, you know, get going, then. We don't have all day."

"Agreed," Shida reminded Shaymin, claws to her sides. "Both for the good of the universe and to save your ego. With any more of this 'god' business it will explode."

"I'm not a god," corrected the Flower King in his own voice. "I'm a Lesser Spirit or Elemental - that means I'm in charge of keeping part of the world in check. In my case, that would be flowers and things that grow. Some of us look out for humans, making sure that their emotions run properly. There's one more great Pokémon spirit, though - the most powerful and ancient of all. Arceus, the Original One. He created the world from the First Egg ages ago, and made all of us Elementals to ensure that it was kept in balance. Today, he lives in the Hall of Origin, leaving it up to the High and Lesser Spirits to protect it."

"Pretty lazy for a god," remarked Zero in a whisper. "I'd have thought Dialga and Palkia going insane would get his attention."

Shaymin rolled his eyes. "Arceus was always like that. He probably thinks of the situation as some sort of test, and Dialga and Palkia as badly behaved children. Being more-or-less a god gives him a detached point of view on things. You won't find me going to his hall to confront him over it. Come on," he snapped, "this shouldn't take much longer. I need a Gracidea Flower before night comes and it's useless."

As Layla and Moose watched, Shaymin sprang down from Itazura's arms and scurried away as fast as his four stubby feet could carry him. Shida followed, sprinting, Zero and Itazura accompanying her. Moose gave Layla a confused look before she asked him to help get the townspeople ready. The Flower Bearing was coming soon. In the past the entire village would emerge to watch their local legend come to life, and now Shaymin would show himself before all of them for the first time in hundreds of years.

The King of Flowers didn't stop, seeing a covered wicker basket laid near the center of town, between two painted wooden houses. Startled villagers, some guided there by Moose and Layla, watched in awe as the ancient spirit shuffled forward into view. Most of them only knew Shaymin from grandparents' stories and books of superstitions and fairy tales.

One, a seven-year-old girl, tugged furiously on her father's sleeve. "Look, Dad! It is real, like you said!" Shaymin gave the child a kindly smile before settling down in front of the basket, allowing all of the people to see. Shida, Zero, and Itazura were visible among the crowd, as were all of the train passengers. Kako, Shun, and Taka were with Ohin, who was reminding the three children to calm down.

As they watched, Shaymin pulled open the basket, revealing some fresh Oran Berries and a newly pulled Gracidea flower. He waited for a moment to eat the berries before picking up the plant in his mouth, brandishing it. Cheers broke out, even Zero and Shida joining in, and no one noticed Itazura slipping away as his hair began to change back into brown feathers. The King of Flowers took a deep sniff of pollen and disappeared into a warm golden light as he changed back into his Sky Forme. With a laugh, the little Pokémon sprang into the air, clutching the Gracidea. Where he took off, a grove of cool blue flowers sprang up.

When he flew away, the crowds began to disperse, only Shida and Zero staying behind. As they waited, Shaymin returned, hovering above the Grovyle. "All right, then," he told them, "my job's done. Let's find the giant chicken and get out of here."

"Wait." Zero looked behind Shida. "Where is Itazura? Don't tell me - he changed back." The two ran after the _basan_, Shaymin following. He was just as worried as they were. Fortunately, he was able to see Itazura behind an empty tent, one of his feet sticking out.

"What are you doing?" hissed Shida, teath gritted. "Come on! We have to go! Now!"

The chickenlike head of the _basan _emerged from the tent flap, the expression on his beak sheepish. "The spell wore off. I can't come out - not like this."

"You have to!" Shaymin snapped. "Where in town can we hide a giant chicken?"

"_Basan_," Itazura corrected firmly.

"All right - a giant, _talking_ chicken." Zero cut off the conversation. "Look, if you don't move it the townspeople will come, and the rest of us aren't in the mood to be driven out with torches and pitchforks. Just go quickly and we'll be fine."

He led the two away, Itazura trailing him, a nervous trickle of smoke coming from his nostrils. Luckily no one noticed them, as most of the people of Ten'i had returned to their houses, and they managed to make it out of the town's borders. Unfortunately, this wasn't the end of it, as Shida pointed out. The journey by foot would take longer than it had by train, and would involve crossing several rivers going through more villages. In other words, they would be exposed to the valley people anyway.

They agreed to wait beside the nearest river to plan their next move. The view was beautiful - a soft, grassy plain lay beside the running water, which could be heard bubbling. However, some members of the group were less interested in the scenery than arguing. Zero glowered at Itazura, who seemed uncharacteristically quiet. Shida folded her arms, frustrated with the two of them. "It's thanks to you that we're in this fix. You just had to play tourist, didn't you? Now we're stuck."

The _basan_'s wattle flushed, but a dimensional hole opened some feet in front of them before he could protest. A gray night heron fluttered out, red eyes blinking as it landed, its feathers faintly glowing a pale green. Shaymin recognized it as Giratina's personal dispatch, the _ao-sagi-bi_ Ranpu. Behind him, a far larger shape slunk from the hole, spreading out its shadowy wings as it shook the grass.

"Well, then," Giratina told her companions, "I see that the Flower Bearing was a success."

Shaymin showed her his new flower, pride lighting up his face. "It was, mostly. I missed my Sky Forme."

The Demon Queen laughed slightly before curling her tail. "Get on my back, and remember to hold your breaths - we'll be taking a shortcut through the Border, and the air is poisonous. There is a visitor for us at Toushou Glacier who was sent by Groudon and the Council."

Zero gave a weak grin. "You're letting me ride you? I thought -"

"You will need my protection to survive exposure to the open air. I'll make the journey as quick as I can, but you must hold on to the collars on my neck and keep a tight grip. Now, get on." Shida sprang up the tail and obeyed Giratina's instructions, followed by Zero and Itazura. The human in particular was overjoyed at the idea of riding one of the three High Spirits, but he kept silent. He knew about the rules and dangers of the Border. Shaymin flew down, securing himself underneath Shida's body, still carrying his flower.

With a single graceful beat, surprising for a creature of her bulk, Giratina rose into the sky. She positioned herself in the air, and, as her four riders held on, dove headfirst into the dimensional hole, followed by Ranpu. In another moment, it disappeared behind her, leaving nothing but a gently flowing river and a breeze rustling through the valley.


	15. The Temple of the Moon

**Giratina and the Heavenly War**

Chapter 15: The Temple of the Moon

Giratina emerged from the Border just outside of the Toushou Glacier, both Itazura and Zero looking off of her back to see who was waiting there. Regigigas stood beside King Shimo, discussing something with the Mamoswine lord, while Enkou and Ikazuchi were practicing with their swords. Ryuu, surprisingly, wasn't beside his old friend Gohan. Instead, the Flygon was perched at the glacier's base, talking to a trio of strangers.

A white-furred winged dog sat on its haunches, sniffing the air, while Ranpu the _ao-sagi-bi_ sat beside it, his feathers glowing faintly and a somber expression on his beak. The third was a large Pokémon, something vaguely swan-shaped, its back blue and its underbelly yellow. It had a magenta ring on its back and two yellow crescent-shaped crests on the side of its face. As Giratina came in to land, the creature narrowed its pink eyes at her and her passengers.

"I see that you've finally come, Renegade," it stated, drawing itself up. "It took you long enough."

"Who are you?" asked Itazura before Shaymin could explain.

The Pokémon gave a faint hiss. "I am Cresselia, spirit of the moon and bringer of light to darkness. My touch can heal all nightmares and dispell all shadows."

The basan cocked his head. "So, Miss Cresselia, what are you doing here instead of, er, bringing light?"

"At the moment, I am an emissary of Groudon. There's something that he wants you to see, Giratina. He thinks that it's time for you to rejoin the ranks of the Pokémon spirits and balance Dialga and Palkia. I would disagree, but he is my master and appointed Head of the Council. There could also be something of concern for your human companion. If he fails to behave himself, the Council will not grant mercy a second time."

Zero, trying to ignore the threat, approached Cresselia. "What is the Council?"

Shaymin burst in, knowing that Cresselia, while a good protector, was not one to put up with fools lightly. "It's a group made up of all of the Legendary Pokémon in the world, with leadership switching every year. Back in the old days, Arceus used to head it, and Dialga and Palkia more-or-less took his place until they went insane. It keeps balance between the elements and sees to the punishment of all who threaten that balance." Zero gulped, realizing how unfriendly Cresselia sounded. Apparently his reputation preceded him, reformed or not.

To spare the human's nerves, Shaymin gestured to the winged dog, who was bounding over to join them. "Who is that? One of your people, Giratina?"

"Yes. That would be Captain Ryouken, the leader of my _hainu_ flock. He's in charge of my forces in the sky and helped me capture Palkia. Dialga was taken by Admiral Kosshi, as you saw. Kosshi is a bake-kujira, a ghost whale - she is the leader of my navy." She gestured to the lake, signalling for the glowing, skeletal whale to emerge. Its hollow eyes stared down at Shaymin, who swallowed his fear and bowed to the nightmarish creature. Judging from Zero's expression, the same fear was the only thing that kept him from trying to break and run.

The freakish creature didn't even blink, merely approaching the shore as if to listen in. Despite his numerous encounters with the people of the spirit world, and despite the fact that he knew most of them were nowhere near evil, Shaymin suspected that they would never, ever not creep him out. He was all too happy to fly up to Regigigas's shoulder as Giratina continued to talk to Cresselia.

As the Flower Spirit watched, the rest of the group slowly arrived, each in turn. Ryuu and Gohan led the two Groudon demons over to join in while several members of the Snow Warriors, including Yuki the Froslass, stood off to the side. Shida sprang off of Giratina's back. The Hoenn Pokémon seemed to have adapted to Sinnoh well. Shaymin guessed that their battle with the monstrous Groudon demon had desensitized them to strange situations, hence why the most Gohan did on seeing Admiral Kosshi was bristle his fur. He himself was used to the Council and its members, meaning that he could negotiate with Cresselia if no one else could.

Ryouken gave a sharp bark, calling all attention to him. "What do you need Lady Giratina for? We need her as our queen, and she's the only one who can stand up to Dialga and Palkia on anywhere close to equal terms."

"Where are those two psychos, anyway?" Zero asked.

"In their own dimensions. They've hidden themselves away in case their madness comes back."

"Good riddance," remarked the extraterralogist, standing beside Giratina. "To be frank with you, I don't like them. They wanted to have me put to death, and would have done it if Giratina hadn't saved me."

"You saved him?" Cresselia gave Giratina a mildly disgusted expression. "Renegade, you haven't changed a bit. You still value humans above your own kind." Zero glowered at the Lunar Spirit every bit as viciously. "And I doubt that this particular case can overcome his own nature. He is too dangerous to leave free. The Council's justice would have taken care of him."

Shaymin swept down to a patch of Gracidea flowers, hovering next to the human. "Look, I didn't trust him either, but I think he means it at this point."

Zero nodded firmly. "What I tried to do to Giratina and Palkia was stupid and wrong and almost got me killed. I'll do whatever I can to set things right."

Cresselia's features turned cold. "You'd better keep to that. Your meddling put the universe in danger, and you could have utterly destroyed every world and living thing that exists."

Captain Ryouken stood up, Ranpu hopping onto his shoulder. "We'll remain stationed here in case the High Spirits lose control and return. Ranpu, however, will accompany you. He insisted."

Zero cringed, noticing the heron's pale glow for the first time. "What happened to you?"

"Oh." Ranpu spread out his wings. "Why I glow, you mean to ask. To put it bluntly, I died. Sometimes humans and animals who die certain ways return to life as spirits and enter Lady Giratina's jurisdiction. I don't remember how, but it was violent." Zero's expression turned to utter disgust. "Don't be squeamish. Being a ghost isn't that bad. I can't die again, and I can talk now." The _ao-sagi-bi_ flew to join Shaymin in the sky, the Flower King hovering beside Regigigas's real eyes now. "I see you have your own set of wings now. Those flowers do have special properties."

"Yes, they do." Shaymin looked down on Cresselia, addressing the Elemental Spirit. As the Flower King, he was roughly her equal in rank, but as a messenger for Groudon she deserved respect. "You said that you have something to show us, Cresselia. We're old friends. Tell me what it is."

Cresselia gave a slight smile. "Very well. There is an ancient temple close by called the Temple of the Moon - human archaeologists discovered it some time ago, and incorrectly assigned me as its patron. The truth is far more _interesting_. It is something of a record of ancient Sinnoh's history, and the relationship between Pokémon and human beings. As for its representative spirit, it is someone that you should know very well, Giratina." She began to hover away with a jerk of her head. "Come, follow me. My counterpart will explain more."

"Darkrai," realized Shaymin. "He's a bit friendlier than Cresselia," he explained to his group with a smile. "A bit frightening, and definitely not someone to upset, but he's on our side. He's the spirit with dominion over shadows and nightmares. Contact with him can paralyze living things in an endless sleep, and this power is hard for him to control. He usually chooses to avoid humans."

"He does side with them, though." Giratina folded her wings. "Darkrai was the one who fought Dialga and Palkia to protect Alamos Town."

With a cough, Cresselia managed to regain the group's attention. "If you lot are quite finished, we should go. We don't have all day." She levitated away, hovering above the flower field. Giratina, once she gave instructions to Admiral Kosshi and Captain Ryouken, went after the other spirit, followed by Shaymin, Shida, Ryuu, Ranpu, and Zero. Shaymin and Ranpu flew beside the Flygon to keep him company. Shida and Zero rode on Giratina's back. The Grovyle seemed a bit friendlier with the human now, partly because she was impressed by his standing up to Cresselia. Shaymin, for his part, was relieved that Ranpu was his only companion from Giratina's world at the moment.

Darkrai was alarming, yes, but he was one of Shaymin's fellow Elementals and the Flower King had nothing to fear from him. Cresselia's presence would keep the Shadow Spirit from accidentally activating his powers. She was Darkrai's counterpart and twin, like a weaker version of Dialga and Palkia's relationship. Despite their antagonism, the two complemented each other and accepted that.

Cresselia led Giratina's group onto a stone pathway, Giratina making her way along with some effort while the smaller creatures had less trouble. Even she shrunk her wings to make for a better fit. The route was overgrown with moss and weeds, showing that it hadn't been used for some time.

"How old is this place?" Zero asked Cresselia, noticing how ancient it had to be.

"Over two thousand years old, just after Lord Arceus departed this world for the Hall of Origin." Cresselia shot a multicolored Aurora Beam into the air as a signal, and moments later a second Pokémon emerged from the brush.

It was about four feet high and hovering in midair, much like Cresselia was, its body solid black and ragged. Only one blue eye could be seen gleaming between a thick red collar and a tall white pillar on its small head. The creature raised one clawlike hand in greeting. "I see you have them, Cresselia. I will take over at this point."

Cresselia bowed to the shadowy figure. "Very well, Darkrai. Lead us, and I will follow."

Darkrai nodded and beckoned to Giratina. "I'll be your guide to the Temple of the Moon. Stick to the path. It isn't far now, be patient." He floated away as Cresselia and the others trailed him, stpopping beside a large marble temple, now broken in places, carvings on its side. "The carvings are what you're here to see. This one might be of interest to your human friend, to begin with." He gestured to an engraving on the temple's left side. "This scene is set roughly one thousand years ago."

Zero approached, squinting to get a closer look. It depicted an ancient city with thriving streets, almost pulsing with life, inhabited by humans in forgotten dress and many Pokémon species, many familiar and many that he strongly suspected were extinct. Strange crafts flew in the skies, one vaguely resembling his old war shuttle. "Wait a moment. That looks like..."

"That," Darkrai stated in contempt, "is Pokélantis, the city blessed by Arceus himself, and later home to the most depraved culture ever to exist in this world. Its people were given the power to speak to Pokémon by the Original One himself. While their early rulers were wise and just, somewhere along the line a bad strain entered the family, and the last king of the city was ruthless and cruel, developing weapons that were powered through the life energy of Pokémon. He attempted to capture and drain the Rainbow Spirit Ho-oh, who escaped and in a rage over his mistreatment destroyed Pokélantis and most of its people. Rumors say that the king used his own arts to seal away his soul and escape justice. A family or two survived, and from what I know of you, Zero, you can talk to Pokémon yourself."

"Wait a minute." Zero's golden eyes widened as he realized what the shadowy Pokémon spirit meant. "You're saying I'm one of these Pokélantians? Well, the ability did run in the family on my mother's side, and they originally came from Hoenn - I remember hearing my grandfather in Mauville City speak to his own Pokémon a few times, and being surprised to hear them answer back. My mother told me that it could make me a very good Trainer one day, and that's why I found Saiga. Crept into New Mauville one night and found a Magnemite which had been injured in a battle. He joined me willingly. I never had to use a Poké Ball."

"You're not one of them," Darkrai elaborated. "You're one of their descendants. Your mother was right. They have great potential as Trainers, but they can also cause terrible evil. You almost chose the wrong path and ended up like your ancestors - psychotic, bitter, and eventually dead."

Zero hung his head. "I don't even have a Pokémon anymore. Saiga turned out to be power-mad and tried to kill me and take over my battleship. Believe me, my lesson is learned."

"I should hope so." Darkrai gestured to the next stone etching, which depicted a long, serpentine Pokémon which was patterned like Giratina, swooping in a surreal landscape of floating islands and clouds. "My lady, you should recognize this creature." Giratina bent to look, her tail curling. "That is none other than yourself, in your lost Origin Forme. That was the form you took in your domain, the Reverse World."

"See?" Zero shot Giratina a look. "It was real."

Giratina stood in silence. "So why am I not there now?"

Darkrai exchanged glances with Cresselia. "The legends say that it was because you turned violent, and became too aggressive about maintaining the balance."

"Arceus put you on trial in the Council's court," Cresselia elaborated, "and you were found guilty by a significant margin. As punishment, you were removed from your world, stripped of your memories, and placed in another. Groudon has decided that, since you have turned peaceful and showed such initiative in stopping Dialga and Palkia, you should be restored to your lost seat on the Council itself. But there was one group which never caused you problems, and which you never harmed or threatened. The humans. You were protecting the humans."

Shaymin looked through the pillars, seeing large stone statues of his friend. They were unmistakably Giratina - the same six legs, vast wings, and stubby tail were there, right down to the markings, all reproduced in art. He had known that Giratina protected people, but never guessed that her love for them extended to trying to protect them. When she had been banished, Regigigas and the Regal Ones had taken over her role, teaching humans how to survive and guiding technological advances.

"We didn't understand it. They threatened the balance of nature, we thought. They were becoming too clever too quickly and were losing tune with nature, even losing their ability to communicate with other living things, dark spots on Arceus's creation."

"That's a bit harsh," remarked Shida. "The balance is still here. Humans have kept it in check as much as they harm it."

Cresselia turned away briefly. "We have seen that. If they had proven to be irredeemable, we would have destroyed them like Ho-oh destroyed Pokélantis. Preserving life in the world is a higher priority to us than the survival of one specific part of it. But we of the Council prefer to act as creators and protectors, not destroyers. In a way, I am pleased that Zero was tamed rather than killed. The Council hadn't held an execution for centuries."

"But look!" Shaymin excitedly pointed to the statues inside. "Giratina, these people worshipped you! They built statues - this whole temple was probably built in your honor - they were grateful for your help. You may have been forgotten, but not then and not by them." He grinned, imagining an entire population of Giratina-worshipping humans. Dialga and Palkia were treated like gods, too, of course, and were long venerated even after their banished sister's memory had faded, but still! She was a High Spirit, and had been seen as one. Even he had never seen a human structure dedicated to him, and he was still active in Sinnoh, if only in Ten'i Village.

Giratina didn't speak, but turned to Cresselia. "Groudon's offer is generous, and I will consider accepting. However, I still have obligations to my people in the spirit world. We should reopen the question once whatever controlled Dialga and Palkia has been dealt with."

"Lady Giratina can't leave," added Ranpu. "She's been our queen for centuries, and I am proud to be her personal dispatch."

The atmosphere became very still, and the _ao-sagi-bi_ gave a sharp squawk. "What's the matter?"

Before Giratina or Cresselia could reply, they heard a piercing shriek from directly above the Temple of the Moon. Palkia had emerged from a dimensional hole and was perching behind it, his red eyes glowing. He gave another pained, enraged scream, Zero instinctively hiding behind Giratina's back. Whatever had been puppeteering him in the spirit world had regained control. The Spatial Spirit fell quiet, the fire in his glare intensifying as his arm began to faintly glow.

"Fools..." he whispered, his voice cold, something else speaking through him. "No one interferes with my battle. No one!"

"Oh, great," muttered Zero. "I think I see what you meant by 'even worse' now."

Ryuu spread out his wings, ordering the human to get on his back. "Don't worry, I've had riders before. Hang on tight and we'll try and lead Palkia away."

Zero nodded wordlessly and mounted Ryuu, the Flygon taking off immediately. Palkia noticed him, rising into the sky to attack. He released an Aura Sphere from his claws, Ryuu striking back with a Hyper Beam. The two attacks exploded in midair, giving Ryuu much-needed cover to retreat. Furious, Palkia struck after him, Giratina and Cresselia leading the remaining members of their party away from the dogfight.

Ryuu was no fool. He spent more time dodging Palkia's attacks than trying to fight back, using his agility to speed past a blast of pink energy. Another shrill scream almost deafened Zero, who clasped the Flygon's neck for dear life. Palkia, unlike the Groudon demon from the past, aimed to kill. The guardian of the valley flew down to evade another blow, only to barely miss being struck by a beam of purple energy which barrelled into the furious Palkia.

Dialga emerged, his eyes glowing as red as Palkia's, and the two immediately turned on one another as Giratina and Shaymin arrived on the scene, followed by Regigigas, Enkou and Ikazuchi, Shida, Gohan, and Itazura. Ranpu led the way. This time they ignored Giratina completely - instead, Palkia disappeared into another dimensional hole on the ground, Dialga tailing him. With a single flap, Giratina rose into the air to follow them in, leaving the hole open. Darkrai and Cresselia vanished, presumably to alert the Council.

Zero and Ryuu collapsed, both exhausted from their flight. "That," the extraterralogist gasped, "makes it three times I've almost died in the last few days."

"I think Giratina wants us to follow her," Shaymin told him. "She left the hole open. It probably leads into another world."

On hearing this theory, Zero cheered up almost at once. "Another world... Well, it looks like you'll get to see what an extraterralogist does. Like before, hold your breaths." With a nod, Shaymin shut his eyes and darted into the dimensional hole first.


End file.
